Bernie Moreno: Padilla Stunt Shows Democrats Are Desperate

BALLASY: “The protesters, some of them at least, seem to be upset with the fact that the raids, some people without criminal — domestic criminal records are getting swept up in some of these raids. Do you think that’s bad for, like, optics for the Republican Party, if you’ve got people without these domestic criminal records getting deported and wrapped up in these raids?”
MORENO: “I think the problem with the optic is on the Democrat side. In other words, what the Democrats are saying, if you really think about what — the way they’re framing that is the only way that a criminal alien should be deported is to make them have committed a rape or murder. So, in other words, we’re not going to deport a criminal alien unless they kill an American. Why would we subject ourselves to that kind of nonsense? The reality is, you broke a law by coming to this country illegally. We’ve given them plenty of notice. They should leave the country, reapply for legal entrance, because if we have to find you and chase you and deport you, you’re never coming back into this country. But the argument for the Democrats is insane. Basically, what they’re saying is, don’t deport somebody until they kill an American. That’s crazy. It doesn’t make any sense. Look, those of us like myself who waited in line to come into this country, it’s a privilege. It’s not a right to be welcomed into this country. So, we should honor those people and not reward the people that skipped in line in front of the people who are the good people that are waiting. Look, if you’re in this country illegally, you gotta go. The voters on November 5th made that crystal-clear. And look, the problem with these raids is that instead of these people being handed over at jails, one person to one agent, these sanctuary jurisdictions release them and now they gotta send a team of people to chase them, which is nuts. In terms of the protests, look, I think a fundamental right of this country is the ability to stand right there and say whatever you want to any elected official. Hold me accountable, 100%. But you can’t vandalize a car. You can’t burn down a building. You can’t throw rocks. You can’t throw stones at somebody. You can’t disobey police orders. You know, I have this pin on, you know what that means, right, the Capitol Police knows what it means. But I can’t just go through an empty door. I can’t go tackle that police officer and say, ‘You have any idea who I am?’ Yeah, you’re the guy who just tackled me, right? You have to pay attention to what law enforcement tells you to do. And you know what’s interesting? We should ask some of my Democrat colleagues, what is the penalty for interrupting a Chuck Schumer press conference? What’s the penalty for walking towards the stage of a Chuck Schumer press conference? What’s the penalty if a police officer tells you to back up and you lunge forward and it keeps screaming? What’s the penalty? What they’re saying is, if you’re a United States senator, somehow you’re exempt from all these common sense rules. That’s insane. If you did that, if you tomorrow went to a Chuck Schumer press conference and started yelling and screaming live on TV and walked forward, they would pick you up with your feet and your hands and — except you’d actually go to jail. You wouldn’t be apologized to and said, ‘Oh, would you like to meet Mr. Schumer now and tell him what’s on your mind?’ You would literally be in jail. The idea that being a United States senator absolves you from common law and order is insane.”
BALLASY: “And Padilla is saying that wasn’t a stunt, what he did.”
MORENO: “Again, you interrupted a live press conference. Offense number one. Number two, you walked towards the protectee. Secret Service has one job: Make sure that protectee is protected. When they asked you to stop, not only did you not stop, you forced yourself forward. When they told you to leave the room, you fought them. All those are fundamental, basic rules that you’re not allowed to do no matter who you are. And having this pin or being a United States senator does not absolve you from that. And by the way, did not have the pin on. The one thing that police can see — like, for example, when I drive in, like, if I walk over there or I walk back upstairs and they say, ‘Well, you’re not allowed to pass that line,’ the minute they see the pin, they know you’re a senator. He didn’t identify himself in the way that we’re told to identify. And he’s been here long enough, he should know better. And by the way, I say that and Alex is a good guy. I don’t mean to disparage him, but good guys do things that they shouldn’t do sometimes. And if it wasn’t a stunt, it was just miraculously ready for camera. The camera was just coincidentally ready on the spot. I mean, look, the Democrats are desperate because they don’t have any ideas. They don’t have any leaders. And so they’re trying to make something out of nothing. That’s what you saw on Thursday. And I actually met the officer that was there on Friday, and to say that that guy is somehow an authoritarian enabler is an insult to that man, who has a good family, is a good man. You don’t want to hear those things. You know, they’re the ones that say, ‘Don’t disparage federal workers.’ They’re disparaging those good police officers.”