Alex Padilla Issues Emphatic Message To Trump: 'Withdraw The Military From The City Of Los Angeles'

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Democratic leadership press briefing, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) called on President Trump to withdraw troops from Los Angeles, California.

Transcript

00:00thank you leader Schumer of course I want to thank just my colleagues but most importantly

00:10my wife my sons for their love their support always but particularly this last week which

00:16has been so tough for so many thank you all for for being here for listening I'm hoping that you

00:28all saw and heard my remarks on the floor just a little while ago and I do think so many of my

00:34colleagues that took time out of their busy schedules to be there to listen and to support

00:42now the first I won't repeat the entire speech but I do think there's a couple things worth

00:47emphasizing a couple things worth calling out beginning with the fact that we are on record

00:53as a united senate democratic caucus calling for president trump to withdraw the military

01:01from the city of los angeles we cannot and will not stand by while this administration attempts to

01:11militarize our cities and to ignore the laws passed by this congress as I mentioned during my floor speech

01:21today the focus is los angeles but the administration has laid the groundwork to try to do this in any

01:29city in any state in the country and that's just wrong also what happened to me last week

01:41was really not about me if this is how the administration responds to a united states senator

01:51who simply wants to ask a question as part of our oversight responsibility as congress then imagine what

01:58they are capable of doing and what they are doing to people all across the country right now when cameras

02:06are not rolling I'm speaking up because this is about every single american who cherishes our constitution

02:15our freedoms and our rights federalizing california's national guard and bypassing the governor's authority

02:25should be a wake-up call to everybody

02:29as I said it's happening in california today but it can happen in any state tomorrow

02:35now on friday I did have a small glimmer of hope because I heard an announcement by the administration

02:45that the president ordered the department of homeland security to kind of pull back from aggressive

02:51enforcement actions in hotels in restaurants and in agricultural fields I thought maybe that was a

02:58baby step in the right direction but even before they reversed that directive yesterday more chaos more

03:07confusion there was also that announcement that bears highlighting yesterday morning we saw that trump

03:16via social media has said oh no we are doubling down on our targeting of big blue cities

03:26it's a blatant partisan attack and nothing less we all have a responsibility to speak out that was my appeal

03:34to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle does it matter if you're a republican a democrat or an independent

03:41we all have a responsibility to speak out and push back before it is too late

03:49you all saw what happened when I had the audacity to ask a question and despite that I will continue to speak

04:02up because I will not and we cannot give in to the overreach of this administration thank you

04:10can I answer your question too before

04:20you

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