All posts tagged "Alex Padilla"

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) called the massive show of force at Los Angeles's MacArthur Park on Monday "appalling" after ICE agents and National Guard troops arrived with horses and armored vehicles, with a black Department of Homeland Security helicopter hovering overhead, in what he called a "media stunt" meant to scare the migrant community.

Gomez told CNN on Tuesday that to his knowledge, no one was taken into custody during the government action.

"I've heard that no one was actually detained, which makes us believe that this was more of a political and media stunt where they wanted to, I don't know, capture footage of a show of force by having more than 100 federal agents in full gear...in military equipment, horseback, trucks — a show of force for what? Twenty-plus kids that were playing at a playground during summer camp, some young as as eight years old," Gomez said....

After Vice President J.D. Vance cast the deciding vote to allow Donald Trump's megabill to pass the Senate Tuesday, opponents took to social media to warn the House that it was up to them to stave off impending disaster for lower-income Americans.

Call To Activism called Vance's tiebreaker, "one of the most shameful moments in American history."

"After 26 hours of fighting on the Senate floor, Republicans voted to rip health care from millions of people and let little babies go hungry. And they cheered. I'm angry. You should be too," posted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)....

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) gave a brief statement outside the Los Angeles federal building Thursday, shortly after he was physically removed from a Homeland Security briefing held by Kristi Noem.

"I'm here in Los Angeles today, and I was here in the federal building in the conference room awaiting a scheduled briefing from federal officials as part of my responsibility as a senator to provide oversight and accountability," Padilla read. "While I was waiting for the briefing with General Guillot, I learned that Secretary Noem was having a press conference a couple doors down the hall."

"Over the course of several weeks several of my colleagues have been asking the Department of Homeland Security for more information...and we've gotten little to no information in response to our inquiries," he added....

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led the outrage over Sen. Alex Padilla's (D-CA) treatment at the hands of federal agents during a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday.

A Padilla spokesperson recounted that Padilla "was exercising his duty to perform Congressional oversight of the federal government's operations in Los Angeles and across California. He was in the federal building to receive a briefing with General Guillot and was listening to Secretary Noem's press conference. He tried to ask the Secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed. He is not currently detained."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer posted to X, "Watching this video sickened my stomach, the manhandling of a United States Senator, Senator Padilla. We need immediate answers to what the hell went on."...

As more and more prominent Democrats call for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race, the future of his re-election campaign sits somewhere between listing and sunk.

But as the political walls closed on Biden Thursday, his campaign's communications team pressed forward as if there's no question — at all — that Biden will remain in the race and be the Democratic Party's nominee.

It evoked images of a "Simpsons" episode where Principal Skinner suggests ignoring distractions by putting your fingers in your ears and making the "LALALALALALALALA" sound....

Last week, senators put the CEOs of five social media giants each in the hot seat over accusations of their platforms’ negligence toward the sexual exploitation and online safety of children.

The hottest seat of all at a multi-hour Senate Judiciary Committee hearing belonged to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who a senator asked to stand up and publicly apologize to victims and parents in attendance holding photos of their children they say were sexually abused, bullied or committed self harm — many dying by suicide — related to exploitation on social media platforms.

“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the committee’s ranking Republican. “You have a product that’s killing people.”...