Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke on the Senate floor to condemn the forcible removal of Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) from a public press conference in Los Angeles.

Watch the video here.

Transcript below:

“I never thought I would imagine having to stand here and discuss what I saw today.

“A United States senator in his own community, in the city in which he grew up, elected under the authority of the people, stepping forward to get answers to legitimate questions.

“And we see him being thrown to the ground after being removed from a room forcibly and put into handcuffs by multiple people.

“This, to me, is such an abuse of authority. It is a violent act, and there can be no justification of seeing a senator forced to their knees, lay flat on the ground, their hands twisted behind their back and being put into restraints.

“If you see the video at that point, he's not fighting. He's not pushing.

“But this is a pattern and a practice. This is not an isolated incident. I remind people that in my own community, in the city of Newark, we had a congresswoman and a mayor at a facility, the mayor invited into the gate, congresspeople invited into a conference room, and then the mayor asked to leave -- who did leave -- and then numerous agents run out to arrest that Mayor.

“Now the judge in this case said it was outrageous. Reprimanded the Trump administration for the arrest in and of itself. We see time and time again with this administration trying to precipitate a response by the misuse and the abuse of force. This is more akin to authoritarian governments, when you see a democratic nation having their executive begin to arrest mayors, begin to arrest judges, begin to arrest a United States senator who is simply asking for answers to their questions. To remove them from a room, forcibly, to throw them to the ground, to put them in restraints. This is something that we should not tolerate.

“And by we, this is not Democrats and Republicans. This is we, in this body.

“We have a constitutional obligation to provide oversight to the executive, a constitutional obligation to ask questions, to make inquiries. A constitutional obligation to check and balance the authority of the executive.

“And so here we saw before our eyes a senator in their district in their state, asking questions, and we see him being shoved out of a room. But it did not stop there, shoved to the ground, shoved onto his belly, and had his arms pulled behind his back. This should outrage every United States Senator.”