‘Morning Joe’ Guest Says Noem ‘Failed’ To ‘De-Escalate’ Situation By Not Letting Heckling Dem Sen Ask Question

Left-wing political activist Maria Teresa Kumar blamed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday for the removal of Democrat California Sen. Alex Padilla after he heckled her at a press conference.

Padilla forced his way into Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles and disobeyed officers’ orders on Thursday, causing law enforcement to forcibly remove him, take him to the ground and place him in handcuffs. During her appearance on “Morning Joe,” Kumar rushed to Padilla’s defense by saying Noem had the responsibility to take his question and ease the entire situation.

“Let’s take a step back, Willie. Let’s assume that she did not hear him identify himself. How many times have we witnessed leaders at a podium, whether it’s Senator McCain, whether we were talking about Bush, whether we’re talking about Obama. Even Secretary Mayorkas. How many times have they been in a place where they are heckled at the podium? And they do what is right, what leaders do. They de-escalate the situation. They basically say, ‘you know what, I can’t take your question now. But perhaps afterwards .’ That is the job of a leader.”

“You have Secretary Noem who is in charge of 250,000 agents around the country, and she cannot de-escalate a basic press conference?” Kumar continued. “Instead, it has to go to the maximum where they handcuff a sitting senator? That actually goes to a broader issue. Is she the right person for this job? Does she understand that right now, if she cannot control a press conference, how can we make sure there are not going to be rogue ICE agents, rogue folks that are not going to interfere with people’s constitutional rights simply because she does not have the authority or the ability to actually reign her in?”

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Kumar added that Padilla simply did his job by asking Noem a question inside a federal building. She also made the assumption that someone in the administration approached Noem and told her that she “really messed up.”

“ job at the podium, as the head of ICE, is to de-escalate situations and she absolutely failed,” Kumar concluded.