CNN’s Erin Burnett interjects race into Padilla being cuffed: Was it ‘because of how you look?’

The liberal media never misses an opportunity to make race an issue, and Thursday’s performative stunt by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was no exception.

Padilla tried to crash a press conference being held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — the unhinged senator physically resisted federal agents’ attempts to remove him and was forced to the ground and temporarily handcuffed.

The media worked itself into a frenzy in support of Padilla. Eager to make race an issue, CNN anchor Erin Burnett cited a comment from commentator Xochitl Hinojosa to ask the Hispanic Democrat if he was restrained because of “how you look.”

“I don’t know if you just heard what Xochitl was saying. She was saying that what she finds so unsettling as a Hispanic woman is that she feels that this happened to you because of how you look,” Burnett said. “And that, as one of two sitting senators from California, those Secret Service agents would have known exactly who you were. And in fact, after you started talking, you said, “I’m Senator Alex Padilla,” and you said it multiple times.”

She then asked, at the 4-minute mark of the video below, “Do you think that it was because of how you look?”

“It saddens me…. seeing an administration that puts United States senators in handcuffs, this is not normal. We cannot treat it as normal.”

Senator Alex Padilla talks one-on-one with @ErinBurnett to explain his encounter with police forces at a DHS event that ended with him on… pic.twitter.com/NP6j2GMOho

— Erin Burnett OutFront (@OutFrontCNN) June 13, 2025

For the record, Padilla did identify himself, but it was after he lunged toward the podium where Noem stood and began resisting the agents who intervened.

Eager to get maximum mileage out of his political theater, Padilla left open the possibility that he was confronted because he is Hispanic.

“Look, I don’t know what the motives are,” he replied “I think the point is this, Erin, and as I said, when I came out of the building a little while after the incident, if this can happen to me, a United States senator representing the state of California, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security and the people around the secretary will treat a United States senator for having the audacity to ask a question, then imagine what they can do — imagine what they are doing to people in communities, not just throughout Los Angeles, but throughout the country.”

As Derrick Evans asked on X, does this look like an elected Senator who just wants to ask a question?

Does this look like an elected Senator who just wants to ask a few questions? pic.twitter.com/rkEbC283lh

— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) June 12, 2025

Homeland Security released the following statement via X: “Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem. Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands.

“[Secret Service] thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately. Secretary Noem met with Senator Padilla after and held a 15 minute meeting.”

Ari Fleischer, a former GWB aide, summed the stunt up well on X: “So this is how it works now. Instead of government officials calling one another to meet, everyone with a cause should show up at someone else’s news conference, interrupt, shout, and demand they get questions… Ds think they’re being clever. Instead, Ds are violating the norms and pushing our nation in an uncivil direction – because they think they’re better than everyone else. This has to stop.”

Source link