Video Proves DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s Top Deputy Lied About Senator Being Forcibly Removed By Federal Agents

AP Photo/Etienne Laurent

Tricia McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, posted a tweet Thursday afternoon defending the physical removal and detention of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) from a press conference, but multiple video clips of the incident show several of her comments were not accurate.

McLaughlin’s boss, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, was holding a press conference in Los Angeles regarding President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and protests. The Trump administration has sent National Guard troops and Marines to the area, over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and other local California officials.

Padilla interrupted the press conference, saying he wanted to ask Noem questions.

“I’m Senator Alex Padilla, I have questions for the secretary,” he said. “Because the fact of the matter of is, a half-a-dozen violent criminals, that you’re rotating on your — on your — HANDS OFF!”

Multiple security staffers and federal agents with the FBI and Secret Service grabbed Padilla and forcibly pushed him toward the doors, then lowered him to the floor and handcuffed him. He was later released.

Video and photos of the incident swiftly went viral on social media, along with reactions from elected officials, reporters, political commentators, and Trump administration officials.

McLaughlin quoted a tweet from Newsom that defended Padilla as “one of the most decent people I know,” denounced Padilla’s removal and detention as “outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful,” and called “Trump and his shock troops” as “out of control.”

“Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” wrote McLaughlin.

“Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” she continued. “@SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”

However, the video evidence — including the clip in the Newsom tweet McLaughlin quoted — show her framing of the incident was inaccurate, specifically her claims that Padilla did not identify himself and that the agents “thought he was an attacker.”

“I’m Senator Alex Padilla,” Padilla says in the video. “I have questions for the Secretary.” As he is dragged out of the room, one of the agents can be heard addressing him as “Senator.”

Many of the replies to McLaughlin’s tweet called her out for these misrepresentations that were disproven by the video she herself had shared and other widely shared clips.

Nonetheless, McLaughlin doubled down in a second tweet.

“Padilla pushing and shoving law enforcement officers to get his way back to the podium,” she wrote. “Incredibly aggressive behavior from a sitting US Senator.”

“No one knew who he was,” she claimed.

Regarding McLaughlin’s comment that Padilla was not wearing his “Senate security pin,” Mediaite reached out to two former Senate staffers, and they both said that Senators often do not wear their pins, with pins having much more common usage in the House where there are 435 members, compared to the Senate’s 100 who often have served a longer time in Washington. The former staffers asked to be quoted anonymously to speak freely on a political topic.

“Some do, some don’t,” said one former staffer. “They’re technically ‘supposed to’ in D.C., but there’s no enforcement mechanism or anything.” (This incident with Padilla took place in Los Angeles, not D.C.)

“I never saw a lot of Senators wearing pins, from what I recall,” said a second former staffer. “It was mostly House members who wore pins. There are only 100 senators and most people serving the Senate are expected to be able to identify them.”

“I’ve honestly never gotten a close look at one,” the second former staffer added. This staffer had “plenty” of familiarity with the Senate ID cards “but things designed specifically to identify members I never saw much except occasionally getting a business card from one.”

This article has been updated with additional information.