Dem Rep. Seth Moulton: Arresting A Senator For Asking A Question “Doesn’t Feel Like A Democracy”
Massachusetts Democrat Rep. seth Moulton commented on Sen. Alex Padilla getting arrested trying to rush the stage on Thursday at a DHS press conference in Los Angeles. Moulton told CNN:
REP. SETH MOULTON: Well, first of all, I picked up the phone and called, I have a couple of friends who are FBI agents, so I called one of them, because it was apparently FBI agents who pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him, and I said, What on earth is the FBI doing arresting a United States senator? He said it was embarrassing, and it certainly shouldn’t have happened. I don’t know the full circumstances of the interaction-I haven’t seen one video, not from all perspectives-but anytime federal law enforcement arrests a United States senator for asking a question, it doesn’t feel like we live in a democracy. CNN HOST: Is it clear to you they knew he was a senator? REP. SETH MOULTON: What difference does it make? He’s asking a question, and then he explained that he was a senator. You know, I’ve been a U.S. Marine. I’ve never been a federal law enforcement official, but if I were in that situation-based on my Marine training-the first thing I would do before handcuffing someone is figure out what’s going on. Are these officers so weak that they can’t even hold him for a second to ask a question and ascertain his identity? They need to throw him to the ground like he’s a scoundrel and put handcuffs on him. This looks like the law enforcement arm of an authoritarian. It’s a terrible look for a democracy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if, at some point in the future, we see investigations into these officers and how they handled the situation.
