Donald Trump Attempted to Justify California Senator Getting Tackled By Police Because 'He Looks Like an Illegal,' Author Claims

Donald Trump allegedly attempted to justify federal agents handcuffing California Senator Alex Padilla by suggesting that he "looked like an illegal."

Padilla was thrown to the ground on Thursday, June 12, after going to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles to try to ask her a question. Now, Republicans are scrabbling to say his violent removal was necessary.

Padilla interrupted the press conference and, after he identified himself as a senator, he was forcibly removed, brought to the ground and handcuffed by agents, sparking outrage on social media.

“Trump saw these pictures and then has been on the phone saying to people, ‘Nobody’s ever heard of this guy,’” Michael Wolff, the bestselling author, said this week on "The Daily Beast Podcast."

“As though that’s an excuse. And then he’s gone on to say, ‘and he looks like an illegal,’” the author claimed.

Wolff said that Trump excused the assault by dismissing Padilla as an immigrant nobody.

“If you are famous, that would obviously put you in a different category and ICE agents would not have tackled you,” said Wolff, explaining Trump’s rationale.

“Padilla is actually a relatively new senator from California, nobody knows about this person. Therefore, perfectly understandable that the ICE agents would tackle him. And of course he looks like ‘an illegal,’" Wolff explained, describing Trump's rationale.

“This is just his visceral response: Nobody’s ever heard of him,” Wolff added. “We can take the blame off the ICE agents because they haven’t heard about this guy.”

Speaking with "Pod Save America" host Tommy Vietor, Padilla said he was objecting to recent actions taken by the administration, including Trump ordering the National Guard to respond to protesters in Los Angeles and the ICE raids and deportations that set off those protests in the first place.

Padilla interrupted the press conference after Noem claimed the federal government was “liberating” the people of Los Angeles.

"There’s been so much attention on the way you were treated, rightly, I believe, that I think people are missing what she said that led you to speak up," Vietor told the senator, before reading Noem’s words: "We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and burdensome leadership that this Gov. [Gavin] Newsom and this mayor placed on this country."

Padilla said he’s in regular contact with Los Angeles's top law enforcement officials, who are allegedly “frustrated” with how the Trump administration is painting the anti-ICE protests.

“Los Angeles is no stranger to protests and demonstrations and rallies and marches and they know how to handle this. But the presence and the hostility of the administration is what’s fanning the flames. This is a crisis of Trump’s own making,” Padilla said.