[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 101 (Thursday, June 12, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S3368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ALEX PADILLA
Mr. SCHUMER. I mentioned a few minutes ago, I had seen a video that
sickened my stomach of a U.S. Senator being manhandled, we now know, by
Federal agents and dragged out of a hearing room.
Now there is a second video that is even worse. He has been thrown to
the ground--again, manhandled, brutally taken down, handcuffed. It was
disgusting.
Anyone who looks at this--it will turn their stomach to look at this
video and see what happened. It reeks--reeks--of totalitarianism. This
is not what democracies do.
Senator Padilla was there legitimately in that building to ask
questions of what is going on in California, which everybody wants to
know answers to. We don't get answers when we ask the administration
questions in one way or another. So Senator Padilla was exercising his
duty as a Senator for his constituents to try and find out what
happened and, instead, he gets manhandled, thrown out of the room,
thrown on the ground, and handcuffed.
We need a full investigation immediately as to what happened and who
did what and what is going to be done to see that this doesn't happen
again to Senator Padilla or other American citizens who are seeking
their right to redress. It is despicable; it is disgusting; it is so
un-American--so un-American--and we need answers. We need answers
immediately.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
____________________