U.S. Rep. Jared Golden broke with Democrats to condemn two colleagues for engaging in “politics as theater.”
The Democrat from Maine’s 2nd District made his comments to the news outlet Axios on Thursday at the U.S. Capitol.
“I don’t think politics as theater is what our job is here,” Golden told Axios.
He was referring to two separate incidents involving a Democratic representative and senator.
On Thursday, police forcibly removed U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California from the FBI’s Los Angeles headquarters, where Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a press conference.
During the press conference, Padilla interrupted when Noem declared that President Donald Trump would “liberate” Los Angeles from its “socialist” leadership, The Associated Press reported.
On Saturday, Trump signed a proclamation invoking Title 10 to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles, which has seen an eruption of protests over his immigration policies. That move, made over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, was blasted by Democratic governors, including Janet Mills, as an “alarming abuse of power” that’s “ineffective and dangerous.”
Since then he has called up more National Guard and U.S. Marines to the city.
Video from Thursday’s press conference showed police pushing Padilla from the room into an adjacent hall, where he got onto his knees and was then forced to the ground and handcuffed while officers held him down.
That came as U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey was indicted this week for allegedly assaulting a federal officer during a visit to an immigration detention facility in Newark, where the city’s mayor was arrested while trying to join the congressional visit, according to The Associated Press. She has denied the allegations.
“I think that it’s never good when a senator or member of Congress gets roughed up by law enforcement,” Golden told Axios.
He added, “Where I come from, if you shove a police officer, you’re probably getting arrested.”
“I am not in any way saying that means law enforcement should be slamming people around,” Golden said.
His remarks put him at odds with much of his caucus.
When Axois asked U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia about Golden’s comments, the California Democrat defended Padilla, saying he “was at his place of work.”
“He works in that building. He went to the press conference … he identified himself as a U.S. senator and then they manhandle him to the ground and arrest him,” Garcia told Axios.
Even Golden’s fellow Maine Democrat, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of the 1st District, has been vocal in her criticism of the Trump administration’s treatment of Padilla, calling it “disgraceful, completely uncalled for, and an alarming abuse of power.”
“If they can physically assault a federal elected official with impunity, imagine what they can do to ordinary citizens,” she said Thursday afternoon, calling the treatment of Padilla “thuggish behavior.”
