MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Calls Alex Padilla Being Manhandled at Presser ‘One of the Bleakest Days’ of Her Career

MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) being forcibly removed from a press conference was “one of the bleakest days” of her anchoring career.

Wallace joined Pod Save America on Friday, where she addressed Padilla’s removal, calling it “chilling” and “ominous.”

Padilla was manhandled and taken to the ground by FBI and Secret Service agents after speaking out at a press conference being held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Padilla identified himself as a senator and said he was escorted into the press conference before being removed.

The senator was objecting to President Donald Trump’s response to Los Angeles protests. He told Pod Save America on Thursday that he spoke out after Noem declared military personnel were being mobilized to “liberate” the city from its Democratic leaders.

“Los Angeles is no stranger to protests and demonstrations and rallies and marches and they know how to handle this. But the presence and the hostility of the administration is what’s fanning the flames. This is a crisis of Trump’s own making,” Padilla said.

Wallace called it “one of the bleakest days” of her anchoring career. She began anchoring Deadline: White House in 2017.

“This was one of the bleakest days of anchoring that I’ve ever had in the job. I mean, we, I think, were prepared, on the losing side of the November contest, for Trump to do things that we warned he would do,” she said.

Wallace said the Padilla incident proves Trump is to the “autocratic right” of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

“He’s to the autocratic right of Orbán. And to be doing what they’re doing in full view of the cameras really does make the mind expand in new directions in terms of wondering what they’re doing to people who don’t have — who aren’t one of a body of 100, and where there aren’t cameras rolling,” she said.

Wallace called the Padilla removal a “chilling moment” and an “ominous sign” for what DHS agents can be used for.

“It’s a real ‘what the fuck are we doing?’ moment, I think, for the whole country,” she said.

Watch above via Pod Save America.