Tonight, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss the Trump administration’s unprecedented assault of Senator Alex Padilla:

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Leading off our breaking news coverage tonight is House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Mr. Jeffries, thank you very much for joining us tonight. There is so much for you to consider for us. First of all, let’s begin with Governor Newsom and his big victory in court tonight. This decision that I’ve read by the judge just finds in the governor’s favor all the way through ordering the California National Guard back under the command of Gavin Newsom.

LEADER JEFFRIES: It’s a big victory for the people of California, for the governor, for the rule of law and for democracy itself. Donald Trump had engaged in aggressive overreach. That was never a need for this deployment. Things were being managed by the LAPD, the California Highway Patrol, as well as local Los Angeles County sheriffs. We all object and reject any efforts to assault police officers, to be disruptive, to engage in unlawful and unruly behavior. That was not the issue here. The issue is, how do we make sure that we can continue to protect the peaceful assembly that is guaranteed by the United States Constitution as part of the right of every American to petition their government to try to get grievances redressed.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Judge Breyer, Charles Breyer, very carefully reviewed every single event that has happened there that could be called in any way close to violent, every single thing, every mango that was thrown, every bottle that was thrown, every fire in a dumpster that happened. The fires of those driverless cars that happened over the weekend. And he concluded that none of that was beyond the control of LAPD, and in fact, described exactly how local officials, local law enforcement, brought all of those situations under control relatively quickly, thereby proving just in terms of what actually has been happening in Los Angeles, that it was completely under control and no federal support was needed. So he has that finding, in addition to Donald Trump illegally ordered those troops to move into Los Angeles.

LEADER JEFFRIES: It was an extremely meticulous decision, and this was all about political theater for Donald Trump. He doesn’t want the American people to lock in on the fact that he’s collapsing the economy. He’s failed to lower costs. The GOP Tax Scam is going to rip away healthcare for more than 16 million people, snatch food out of the mouths of children and seniors and veterans, all in service of giving their billionaire donors massive tax breaks. These are all deeply unpopular things. And so, Donald Trump wanted to create a massive distraction in this particular instance. If Donald Trump really believed that we were on the verge of insurrection, then he wouldn’t have attended a Broadway play last evening at the Kennedy Center. It would have been in the Situation Room. Instead, he was out on a night on the town. So this was a fraudulent thing that Donald Trump and his minions at the Department of Homeland Security had engaged in, and it’s now all been exposed in a meticulous decision by Judge Breyer.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: I mean, you know, I said at the outset, when Donald Trump first sent the troops to Los Angeles, that this was specifically, specifically to try to get us to turn our cameras to Los Angeles and away from those senators walking down the halls in Washington who have not been able to come to an agreement on how to do the Trump budget bill in the Senate and to take the focus away from that bill. What are we going to find? What are voters going to find when they put their focus back on this bill and what this bill is trying to do to voters?

LEADER JEFFRIES: You know, Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat in the House on the Budget Committee, has done a tremendous job of pointing out, one, this is the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, on top of the largest cut to nutritional assistance in American history, all in service of trying to bring about the largest set of tax breaks for billionaires in American history. It’s extraordinary. And they are going to increase the debt and the deficit by trillions of dollars, force our children and grandchildren to pay for it. And as a result of this one big ugly bill, hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down, community based health clinics are not going to be able to operate. People are going to die because of the lack of being able to receive the medical service that they need. And so Trump is certainly trying to hide the ball from the American people. But this is a disgusting abomination. And the more the American people learn about the GOP Tax Scam, the worse it gets for them.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Senator Alex Padilla obviously became the news of the day in Washington when that video spread of him being attacked like that in a federal building, a completely secure federal building, that you have to go through metal detectors and have an appointment to get into. Here’s the United States Senator in a federal building being attacked by federal agents, with a Cabinet Secretary looking on, lying about California while that was happening. Where were you when you first saw that video and what was your reaction, maybe holding your phone in your hand looking at that video?

LEADER JEFFRIES: It was disgusting when the news broke. I was on the Hill, we were preparing for a series of votes on the Floor of the House. And when you looked at the video, first of all, to know Senator Padilla, he is just a kind and decent person, a salt-of-the-earth type of individual. He has an extraordinary story, humble beginnings, eventually became an engineer at MIT, educated, and then walked away from what could have been a very lucrative career in order to serve his community and ultimately his state. And to see him assaulted in this fashion, manhandled, and then for the Secretary to lie about it, and the Department of Homeland Security, these people have zero credibility. And so the California Delegation, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, every single part of the House Democratic Caucus stands in solidarity with Senator Padilla. If they can attack a sitting Senator in his home state in this fashion, just imagine what they have in store for the American people. That’s why all of us should be concerned. All of us need to push back, and all of us need to stand up for the principle that in the United States of America, there are no kings.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Senator Padilla has insisted that this story is not about him, it’s what it means to the rest of us. It’s what it means about the people who the ICE agents and the federal agents are going after every day. Let’s listen to what Senator Padilla said when he came out of that federal building after being the– becoming the first United States Senator in history to be manhandled, pushed by federal agents, thrown to the ground and handcuffed for speaking. That has never happened before in American history. Let’s listen to what Senator Padilla said when he emerged from the federal building today.

SENATOR PADILLA (VIDEO): I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information. And at one point, I had a question. And let me emphasize, the right for people to peacefully protest and to stand up for their First Amendment rights, for our fundamental rights. I was there peacefully. At one point I had a question and so I began to ask a question. 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. I will say this, 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, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country. Pero una gran pregunta es esta: si esta es la reacción a un senador con una pregunta, imagínense lo que están haciendo con cocineros, jornaleros, campesinos y otros inmigrantes no violentos en la comunidad de Los Ángeles, en otras áreas de el estado de California y en el país.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Leader Jeffries that statement about imagine, just imagine what they’re doing to other people if this is what they do to the United States senators does seem to be the lesson of the day.

LEADER JEFFRIES: It’s incredibly powerful words from Senator Padilla. I think it’s one of the reasons why there was such a visceral reaction on the Hill both because we know him to be such a good man and this is just an example of how out of control the Trump administration is at this point. We’ve seen an unprecedented assault on the economy, on healthcare, on Social Security and of course, on the rule of law, on the American way of life, on democracy itself. But that’s why it’s going to be important for all of us to continue to show up and speak up and stand up, push back aggressively against the Trump administration, their extremism against Donald Trump and his minions in Congress who are nothing more than a Reckless Rubber Stamp for his extreme agenda. And we’ll continue to do that in the Congress, in the courts, and in communities all across the country.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: In any other presidency, I would expect you to be getting briefed very soon, if not already, about what has happened on Israel’s strike against Iran tonight. Have you been briefed in any way by the intelligence services about what is happening tonight?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I have not received an extensive briefing. There was minimal outreach from the administration, but I do expect sooner rather than later that we will receive a more comprehensive briefing about the state of affairs and the situation that exists. I mean, one of the things that Donald Trump, of course, promised on day one of his presidency, in addition to lowering the cost of living that, of course, has not happened. He talked about ending the war in Ukraine. That hasn’t happened. Talked about restoring peace to the Middle East. That has not happened. And so the whole Trump presidency has been a complete failure characterized by chaos, cruelty and corruption. And, you know, I’m hopeful that cooler heads will prevail in the Middle East and the situation is de-escalated. We certainly believe that Iran should never be allowed to become nuclear capable. They are an enemy not just to Israel, but to the United States and to the free world. But we also want to see a reduction in hostilities.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you very much for joining us in our breaking news coverage tonight on this important night.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you, Lawrence.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Thank you.

The full interview can be watched here.

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