Deadline: “Manhandling” Of California Sen. Alex Padilla By Federal Agents In L.A. Puts Trump Team In Spin Mode – Update

Outrage and spin are proving the partisan fallout of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) being hauled out of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem‘s press conference Thursday in Los Angeles and handcuffed by federal agents.

After the incident, Padilla explained what occurred when he went to ask [Bimbo#2] Noem a question about the thousands of troops deployed to L.A. and the ramped-up rounding up of undocumented immigrants (and more than a few legal immigrants) by ICE agents in recent weeks.

“I began to ask a question,” Padilla said. “I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested. I was not detained.”

The clarification about whether California’s senior senator was actually arrested did nothing to lessen the blow that what happened to Padilla is what’s happening to American democracy and immigrant communities.

“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, we can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, said outside the federal building in West LA this afternoon. “We will hold this administration accountable.”

Fellow Golden State native Kamala Harris was quick to weigh in on what occurred to the man who replaced her in the Senate in 2021 when she became Vice President, calling it “a shameful and stunning abuse of power.”

The bimbo bitch apparently told a few lies about not knowing who U.S. Senator Padilla was and claimed to have met with him afterwards, but …

As [Bimbo#2] Noem spins her own version of events, there has been no confirmation from Padilla’s office of that meeting.

It should be noted that Padilla was identifying himself as a senator as the widely circulated video of the incident confirms. [Bimbo#2] Noem has also met and interacted with Padilla on numerous occasions, especially since the former South Dakota governor was appointed to run DHS.

https://deadline.com/2025/06/alex-padilla-removed-kristi-noem-press-conference-1236432260

Politico: Hegseth won’t commit to obeying courts on Marines in Los Angeles

The Defense secretary said he’d comply with a Supreme Court order blocking Trump’s domestic deployment, but did not commit to the other courts.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that he would obey a Supreme Court order to remove troops from Los Angeles but declined to show similar deference to other courts considering the issue.

The Pentagon chief initially deflected when asked at a House Armed Services Committee hearing whether he would abide by a court’s decision if it determined President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and Marines was unlawful.

“What I can say is we should not have local judges determining foreign policy or national security policy for the country,” Hegseth said.

But the Defense secretary later clarified that he would obey a decision from the high court.

“We’re not here to defy a Supreme Court ruling,” he said.

The comments mirror other officials who have criticized court rulings that go against the Trump administration, often directing withering criticism at lower-court judges while vowing deference to the justices.

The troops and their commanders might need a reminder that their oath is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not the ego of a drunk O-3 wife-beater. Soldiers can be prosecuted for following illegal orders, i.e. being ordered to ignore a legitimate decision of a circuit or appellate court. Any arrests and charges by the troops under such circumstances should be null & void.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/12/hegseth-marines-los-angeles-00402794

ABC 7 KABC: Masked ICE agents let man go after community members intervene during raid in Downey

ICE Thug are Indiscriminately Grabbing Brown People off the Streets

Masked ICE agents attempted to arrest a man in Downey during one of three reported raids Wednesday morning, but they let him go after community members intervened.

In a video obtained by Eyewitness News, the man is seen on the ground next to his bike surrounded by federal police.

Community members filmed the attempted arrest and after calling out the federal agents, the man was let go.

According to Downey councilman Mario Trujillo, the man was working when he noticed ICE was at his job. He immediately started riding his bike toward the apartments.

That’s when one of the agents stopped him by grabbing one of the tires, causing him to fall to the ground.

People began shouting for the agents to leave him alone and told the man not to sign anything.

Moments later, the agents let the man go and left.

Melyssa Rivas, who lives in the area, captured the whole thing on camera.

“It looked like a full on kidnapping scene out of a movie, it was scary,” Rivas said. “”My dad has papers, he has his citizenship but he looks just like that man. He’s a full citizen. They stereotyped that man.”

https://abc7.com/post/masked-ice-agents-let-man-go-community-members-intervene-during-raid-downey/16727563

Newsweek: Ron DeSantis says Floridians have right to hit protesters with cars

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said Floridians have a right to hit protesters with their car if they need to “flee for your safety.”

DeSantis was speaking on The Rubin Report on Wednesday, when he said: “We also have a policy that if you’re driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle, and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety.

“And so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you. You don’t have to just sit there and be a sitting duck and let the mob grab you out of your car and drag you through the streets.”

Note that “policy” is not the same as “law”. Don’t count on DeSantis’s bad advice to save your sorry ass if you drive over someone:

Civil rights activist Heather Heyer was killed after James Alex Fields Jr., drove his car into counter protesters at the Unite the Right Rally in 2017. Fields argued self-defense but was found guilty of first degree murder.

https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-says-floridians-have-right-hit-protesters-cars-2084418

Daily Beast: Trump Voter Gets Choked Up After ICE Detains a Third of His Staff

Vincent Scardina supported Donald Trump’s tough stance on immigration at the ballot box. But that decision came back to bite the roofing boss when ICE detained a third of his workforce.

The six men, all from Nicaragua, were pulled over in a work truck on May 27 while heading to a job—and carted off to jail.

According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, deputies helped transport the men to a local detention facility “for deportation.”

Scardina, who runs a small roofing business in Florida’s Lower Keys, cannot believe it. “It’s quite a shock. You get to know these guys, you become their friends—not just an employer but a friend,” he told NBC6, visibly emotional.

Adding to Scardina’s annoyance, the men had valid work permits and pending asylum applications, according to their attorney Regilucia Smith. “They are legally here,” she said. “Valid work permit, not even close to expired… again, no criminal records—not here, not in Nicaragua.”

The detained men represented a third of his total staff—devastating in a small labor pool like Key West. “We’re not able…to just replace people as easily as, say, a big city, [with] very limited people to pull from, and then you would have to train them, and that takes sometimes years,” he said.

Scardina isn’t alone. He says other contractors in the area are being hit hard too. “I know of one landscaper that lost nine or 10 of his whole crew he had and he’s just totally out of business all of a sudden, just like that.”

You voted for him! Suck it up, buddy!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-voter-gets-choked-up-after-ice-detains-a-third-of-his-staff

Newsom Tells Nation That Trump Is Destroying American Democracy

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California called on Americans to stand up to President Trump in a nationally televised address.

Gov. Gavin Newsom made the case in a televised address Tuesday evening that President Trump’s decision to send military forces to immigration protests in Los Angeles has put the nation at the precipice of authoritarianism.

The California governor urged Americans to stand up to Mr. Trump, calling it a “perilous moment” for democracy and the country’s long-held legal norms.

“California may be first, but it clearly won’t end here,” Mr. Newsom said, speaking to cameras from a studio in Los Angeles. “Other states are next. Democracy is next.”

“Democracy is under assault right before our eyes — the moment we’ve feared has arrived,” he added.

Mr. Newsom spoke on the fifth day of protests in Los Angeles against federal immigration raids that have sent fear and anger through many communities in Southern California. He said Mr. Trump had “inflamed a combustible situation” by taking over California’s National Guard, and by calling up 4,000 troops and 700 Marines.

“Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles,” Mr. Newsom said. “Well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals, his agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses.”

Mr. Newsom said the president had taken a “wrecking ball” to the norms of American government by obliterating checks and balances.

“Congress is nowhere to be found,” he said. “Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility. The rule of law has increasingly been given way to the rule of Don.”

But he called on people to stand up to Mr. Trump, whom he compared to leaders in authoritarian countries. He referenced the military parade scheduled for Saturday in Washington, which will honor the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army but also fall on Mr. Trump’s 79th birthday.

“He’s ordering our American heroes, the United States military, and forcing them to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed dictators have done in the past,” Mr. Newsom said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/us/newsom-speech-trump-la-protests.html?unlocked_article_code=1.OE8.Q03c.TT30tytwYpG1&smid=url-share

Irish Star: Newsom fears for Trump’s mental state after president ‘forgets when they last spoke’ within hours

Governor Newsom called out trump’s cognitive state after Trump appeared to mis-remember when they last spoke, telling a reporter that he spoke with the California Governor “yesterday”

Governor Newsom called out Trump’s cognitive state after Trump appeared to mis-remember when they last spoke, telling a reporter that he spoke with the California Governor “yesterday” – however Newsom responded confirming he had no contact with Trump yesterday and said he did not even receive a message or voicemail.

Newsom raised concerns on Trump’s health saying Americans should be worried that the president who is sending troops to LA to handle protests cannot remember the last time he spoke on the phone with Newsom. Trump went on to claim Newsom has caused deaths in the LA region – despite no deaths occurring during five days of protests. It comes as Newsom filed an emergency request in federal court Tuesday to block the Trump administration from using the National Guard and Marines to assist with immigration raids in Los Angeles.

Newsom also called into question Trump’s mental state after sending thousands of troops to LA without food, water and sleeping provisions as images circulated of National Guardsmen sleeping on the floor.

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/newsom-fears-trumps-mental-state-35371199

Mediaite: Defiant Gavin Newsom Hits Back at Trump in Primetime Address: ‘Brazen Abuse of Power’

California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed President Donald Trump on Tuesday night as federal troops remained in Los Angeles amid protests against Trump’s immigration raids.

The latest demonstrations began on Friday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carried out raids in the city looking for undocumented immigrants. Trump responded by federalizing 4,000 California National Guard soldiers and deploying 700 Marines to the area over Newsom’s objection. It is the first time a president has done so since 1965.

After a largely uneventful day among the protests, Newsom delivered remarks in a televised address.

“On Saturday morning, when federal agents jumped out of an unmarked van near a Home Depot parking lot, they began grabbing people, a deliberate targeting of a heavily Latino suburb,” he said. “A similar scene played out when a clothing company was raided downtown. In other actions, a U.S. citizen nine months pregnant was arrested. A four-year-old girl taken, families separated, friends quite literally disappearing. In response. Every day, Angelenos came out to exercise their constitutional right to free speech and assembly to protest their government’s actions.”

Newsom went on to say that Los Angeles deployed police to help maintain order and that they did so “with some exceptions.”

“Like many states, California is no stranger to this sort of unrest,” he went on. “We manage it regularly and with our own law enforcement. But this, again, was different. What then ensued was the use of tear gas, flash bang grenades, rubber bullets, federal agents detaining people and undermining their due process rights.”

The governor then took Trump to task for federalizing the state’s National Guard.

“This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers, and even our National Guard at risk,” he said. “That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder. And the president, he did it on purpose. As the news spread throughout L.A., anxiety for family and friends ramped up. Protests started again. By night, several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive. They vandalized property. They tried to assault police officers.”

Newsom noted that the state is challenging the troop deployments in court and said the president wants chaos.

“Trump and his loyalists, they thrive on division because it allows them to take more power and exert even more control,” he added. “And by the way, Trump, he’s not opposed to lawlessness and violence as long as it serves him. What more evidence do we need than January 6th?”

He concluded:

It’s time for all of us to stand up. Justice Brandeis – who said it best – in a democracy, the most important office, with all due respect, Mr. President, is not the presidency. And it’s certainly not governor. The most important office is office of citizen at this moment. At this moment, we all need to stand up and be held to a higher level of accountability.

If you exercise your First Amendment rights, please, please do it peacefully. I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress, and fear. But I want you to know that you are the antidote to that fear and that anxiety. What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.

NBC News: Nationwide protests loom over Trump’s upcoming military parade

Trump warned that protesters at the parade will be met with “very big force.” He drew no distinction between peaceful and violent protesters.

President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that anyone who protests at the U.S. military parade here on Saturday will be met with “very heavy force.”

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that they’re going to be “celebrating big on Saturday,” referring to the parade that will wind its way through downtown Washington, D.C.

“If there’s any protester that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force,” Trump said. “I haven’t even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”

Heil, Trump!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/nationwide-protests-loom-trump-military-parade-rcna211789