Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined colleagues on the House Steps and delivered the following remarks:

LEADER JEFFRIES: The Trump administration is a disgrace. Secretary Noem is a disgrace. The manhandling of Senator Alex Padilla was a complete and total disgrace. Senator Padilla is a good man, a decent man, a patriotic man and a hardworking man. He’s the very embodiment of what a United States Senator should represent in this great country of ours, anchored in the principle of self-government.

He was at that press conference doing his job, asking questions about what is taking place in California, the state that he represents, and on behalf of the American people. And he was recklessly and aggressively manhandled.

That was unacceptable. It was unconscionable. It was unpatriotic. It’s un-American. And every single person who was involved in manhandling Senator Padilla should be held accountable to the full extent of the law. So this is not going to end until there is accountability and until the Trump administration changes its behavior.

This administration is not about law and order. It’s about lawlessness and disorder. And that’s what we’ve seen from day one of the Trump administration when Donald Trump pardoned hundreds of violent felons who brutally assaulted the Capitol right behind us. Day one, this administration has been about lawlessness and disorder, and we see a continuing escalation of it.

And we’re going to make sure that we push back aggressively in every way possible to hold those individuals accountable who, without justification, manhandled Senator Alex Padilla.

I’m here today as House Democratic Leader to make it clear we stand with Senator Padilla. We stand with the California delegation. We stand with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. And we stand with the American people.

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