During an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Story Is,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) responded to criticism of his rhetoric by the White House by saying that he was criticizing them over “two United States citizens dying in Minneapolis for being out there exercising their First Amendment rights in the wake of the cruel immigration enforcement that we’ve seen over the last year.” And the administration is “trying to deflect, always trying to blame others, when this is really an opportunity for the president to sort of rise above, let him take the lead on lowering tensions, lowering the temperature, and lowering the political rhetoric.”
Host Elex Michaelson asked, “Yesterday, at the podium, Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, mentioned you by name, and suggested that you bear some responsibility. She quoted you as saying, people are dying because of fear and terror caused by the Trump administration, and said that is inflaming tensions. What’s your response to that?”
Padilla answered, “Well, it was a quote of mine taken out of context. Pretty sure that was in reference to two United States citizens dying in Minneapolis for being out there exercising their First Amendment rights in the wake of the cruel immigration enforcement that we’ve seen over the last year. Look, sadly, it’s not surprising from this administration. They’re always trying to deflect, always trying to blame others, when this is really an opportunity for the president to sort of rise above, let him take the lead on lowering tensions, lowering the temperature, and lowering the political rhetoric. But he can’t help himself. Instead of doing the right thing, he seeks to attack, attack, attack.”
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