The nation’s capital saw several partisan collisions on Thursday as party divides seemed to stretch Republicans and Democrats to a breaking point.
While across-the-aisle bickering is not unusual in the Capitol, Thursday’s scrums, which began with testy hearings involving Democratic governors and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, intensified with Sen. Alex Padilla’s (D-CA) detainment after interrupting a homeland security briefing in Los Angeles.
Here’s a breakdown of a chaotic day in Congress.
Padilla detained and aftermath
As Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was speaking at a press conference in Los Angeles, video shows Padilla approaching the secretary, with security already wrestling with the senator as he began, “Madam Secretary, I want to know why you insist on exaggerating and embellishing—” before being pushed back toward the exit. Padilla can be seen resisting these efforts.
As security wrestled with the senator, who was still attempting to move in Noem’s direction, Padilla told them to take their hands off of him, identifying himself and saying he was there to ask questions before being pushed through the doors and into the hallway outside, where footage showed him being brought to the ground and cuffed.
Despite Padilla identifying himself, it is possible officials at the press conference either did not recognize the senator or hear him over Noem speaking.
The event angered most congressional Democrats, with several Democratic members posting videos of themselves marching to Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-SD) office to get answers. “The brutal handcuffing of Senator Padilla is an affront to democracy. I’m joining House Democrats to march to Senator Thune’s office and to demand that he protect his Colleagues from this out-of-control authoritarian onslaught,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) posted on X.
The brutal handcuffing of Senator Padilla is an affront to democracy. I’m joining House Democrats to march to Senator Thune’s office and to demand that he protect his Colleagues from this out-of-control authoritarian onslaught. pic.twitter.com/G8zl8NvKJd
— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) June 12, 2025
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) wrote, “We are marching to Senator Thune’s office. There must be accountability for the detainment of a Senator. This is not normal.”
Thune wasn’t there, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) said, noting that his staff provided no time for his return. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was left to take the ire of Democrats, who shouted over him while he was speaking to the press.
Johnson said Padilla’s behavior was “wildly inappropriate” and his “behavior, at a minimum, rises to the level of a censure.”
“We have to turn the temperature down. We need to be on the side of the rule of law,” the speaker said. He had accused Padilla of “charging” Noem.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), who was speaking outside Johnson’s office, said the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has “grave concerns when the speaker of the House refers to a sitting member of the U.S. Senate who simply tried to exercise his First Amendment rights as acting like a ‘thug.’”
Noem said “nobody knew” who Padilla was when he came into the room and that the handcuffs were removed from him when he identified himself.
Lawler and Mannion scream at each other on House floor
Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and John Mannion’s (D-NY) vocal clash within the House chamber saw the latter scream at Lawler concerning an unclear matter, other than that he wanted Lawler to leave the Democratic side of the floor.
Lawler was speaking to Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) on the Democratic side of the floor when Mannion began shouting at Lawler. Mannion was heard saying, “You’ve got to do something. Stand up. Grow a pair of balls.”
It’s unclear why Mannion did so, with Lawler responding, “F*** you. … I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Mannion said after the outburst that he wanted Lawler to “compel his colleagues to save the country and stop what the people of this country do not want … the defiance of law.”
“Mike Lawler and I served in the state legislature. He knows well enough,” he added.
The Democrat shouted at the media earlier in the day regarding the Padilla incident, telling them, “We need you. We need you to hold them accountable. Media, it’s your country too.”
Lawler called Mannion’s behavior “unprofessional” in a post on X. “John Mannion was entirely unhinged and unprofessional. That was a shameful display that exposed his complete lack of temperament. No wonder numerous staffers have previously alleged a toxic work environment. He should go seek help for anger management — and f*** off.”
Oversight Committee governors hearing sees tensions flare
Meanwhile, members of Congress grilled several high-profile governors in Govs. Tim Walz (D-MN), JB Pritzker (D-IL), and Kathy Hochul (D-NY).
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) asked Walz, “What is a woman?” leaving him confused and asking what Mace wanted him to say. She then went on a tirade, slamming Walz as a bigot, sexist, and misogynist.
“I want you to say that a woman like me is an adult human female, that men can’t become women. You guys are the party of violence and you’re the party erasing women. You don’t respect us. You’re a bigot, you’re a misogynist, you’re a sexist,” Mace said.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) went after Hochul on immigration, asking her the names of illegal immigrants who have been accused of crimes. Hochul didn’t know any of them.
“We deserve a governor who stands up for law-abiding New Yorkers, doesn’t put illegals first, but actually puts New Yorkers first,” Stefanik said from the dais.
Hochul told Stefanik she should “look at the facts” rather than going after a “viral moment.”
The exchange could be an attempt from Stefanik to build her candidacy in the 2026 New York gubernatorial race, which she has floated entering in a challenge to Hochul.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) also took her turn blasting Hochul, at one point asking the governor why she was smiling. “Are you smiling at me about this? You look like you got quite a smile on your face,” Greene said. Hochul said she wasn’t smiling, and Greene shot back that she shouldn’t smile about the murder of Laken Riley. The governor said she was thinking of Riley’s parents and told Greene not to “question how I look.”
“My heart is breaking for [Riley’s] parents,” Hochul added.
Pritzker didn’t dodge the ire of the GOP lawmakers here, facing an inquiry from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on the Los Angeles riots. Pritzker said he found it “hard to believe” that she was “lecturing” them on what an insurrection was after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“What we’re seeing in LA is an insurrection,” Boebert said. Pritzker responded, “You don’t understand what insurrection is when people are trying to overturn an election here at the Congress.”
The pair talked over each other before Boebert asked him to show courtesy, and Pritzker said he was just answering the question.
Other outbursts included when House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told Frost that he wanted to be on MSNBC, and Greene accused him of being an antifa member. Frost asked for Greene’s words to be struck from the record.
Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) also told the governors they could be charged with obstruction but that he would leave it up to the Justice Department. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) cut in to say the words should be struck from the record, to which Palmer agreed.
Carbajal clashes with Hegseth
Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) continued the committee chaos in a separate House Armed Services Committee hearing. He had been questioning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the Signal leaks, the deployment of Marines to Los Angeles, and other issues.
Carbajal, who served in the Marine Corps Reserve, called the deployment of Marines to Los Angeles “political theater” and asked whether allegiance to President Donald Trump is a prerequisite for serving in the military.
“Congressman, you know what a silly question that is,” Hegseth said. The exchange then became more pointed.
“You’re an embarrassment to this country,” Carbajal replied. “There’s been bipartisan members of Congress that have called for your resignation. You should just get the hell out and let somebody competently lead this department.”
Stephen Miller faces Senate GOP
Tensions bubbled exclusively inside the GOP too, with top Trump adviser Stephen Miller facing a disagreement with Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) in a closed-door Senate GOP meeting concerning immigration. Marshall felt frustrated at Miller’s inability to produce detailed statistics, while Ron Johnson said he had a problem with the White House’s calculations on the border funds.
Ron Johnson later told Axios it was a “simple misunderstanding.”
“Stephen didn’t realize we didn’t have the detailed breakdown in cost, so he explained why the wall was going to be more expensive,” Ron Johnson said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he didn’t agree with Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) assessment that border funding should be cut and thought Miller did fine.
“I think Stephen Miller made an excellent presentation justifying the president’s budget request. Sen. Paul’s analysis, I never bought,” he told the outlet.
“What I found from that briefing is that the White House provided ample information to justify the request,” he said.