Speaking to the media not long after the confrontation, Padilla said he was in the federal building for a scheduled briefing when he decided to drop by Noem’s news conference down the hall. He said he began to ask the secretary a question when he was “forcibly removed” from the room, forced to the ground and handcuffed.
“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question … you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers,” Padilla said. “We will hold this administration accountable.”