On Thursday, the liberal media rushed to enflame the removal of far-left Senator Alex Padilla from a DHS press conference after he namelessly rushed at Secretary Noem and fought with security. Doing his part on CNN’s The Lead, Jake Tapper refused to fact-check powerful Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth (IL) after she (twice) falsely claimed Padilla immediately identified himself; something that directly contradicted the account of Tapper’s CNN colleague he spoke to just minutes prior.
Early in the show, Tapper spoke with CNN correspondent Stephanie Elam, who was in the room, to get the chronology of what transpired. According to Elam, Noem had already began her press conference when Padilla entered the room and started shouting at her, and it was only after her security detail intercepted him and began to remove him, did he identify himself (without the appropriate credentials, it should be noted):
Now, her press conference had started. She was in the middle of talking when he did just start talking. And that's the other key point. He started talking first. And when he started talking, he took a couple of steps. It was not a lunge as it's been characterized. And then there were immediately hands on him from her detailed people pushing him away and back and moving him away from – then during that time, is when he identified himself. So, he did not identify himself first when he was asking the question and interrupting her.
Fast forward through the show about 13 minutes, Tapper was speaking with Duckworth, who was not in the room, to get the overwrought Democratic Party reaction to the childish and manipulative theatrics of their colleague.
During their conversation, Duckworth twice gave a fictitious chorology of events that didn’t match up with what Tapper was just told.
“Well, just watch the video. I mean, within the first two seconds of him standing up, he identified himself as ‘I'm Senator Alex Padilla.’ He identifies exactly who he is,” she lied. Later adding: “Look, he stood up and the first thing he said was, ‘I am Alex, I am U.S. Senator, I'm U.S. Senator Alex Padilla.’ That is clear who he is. They should have let him speak. And frankly, he was doing his job as a U.S. Senator.
At no point did Tapper try to correct the Senator or share with her what Elam witnessed for herself, who again, was in the room, unlike Duckworth.
Tapper’s refusal to stand up for the reporting of one of his colleagues said a lot about him as purported objective journalist and a CNN colleague. Perhaps Tapper feels like he can’t trust the reporting of his co-workers since his reputation was forever stained as a malicious defamer because of Alex Marquardt’s false reporting on his show regarding Navy Veteran Zachary Young.
Marquardt was fired just last week because his shoddy reporting cost CNN’s parent company millions.
Of course, Tapper allowed Duckworth to make up all sorts of other lies about how Padilla was a victim of the authoritarianism America was supposedly slipping into under President Trump. “And what we see the response is, is really, you know, a pure, un-American authoritarianism. And it should scare us all, because if they can do this to a U.S. senator, they can do this to the average American,” she declared.
Hypocritically, Duckworth later lamented that, “now, they're trying to gaslight the American people and blatantly lying about what happened when there's video of it.” To which Tapper responded with an affirmative, “Yeah.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
June 12, 2025
5:04:10 p.m. Eastern(…)
JAKE TAPPER: Stephanie, walk us through what you saw.
STEPHANIE ELAM: Yeah, I think, Jake, it's really important to make two key notes here on this. First of all, when the Senator came in the room, he did not burst into the room. He walked into the room. And the other thing is, he was still about 12 to 15ft away from the Secretary. Now, her press conference had started. She was in the middle of talking when he did just start talking.
And that's the other key point. He started talking first. And when he started talking, he took a couple of steps. It was not a lunge as it's been characterized. And then there were immediately hands on him from her detailed people pushing him away and back and moving him away from – then during that time, is when he identified himself. So, he did not identify himself first when he was asking the question and interrupting her.
And those are the two things I think are very important to note how this went down.
(…)
5:17:53 p.m. Eastern
TAPPER: How do you view it?
SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): Well, just watch the video. I mean, within the first two seconds of him standing up, he identified himself as “I'm Senator Alex Padilla.” He identifies exactly who he is. He tries to ask a question. He tries to do what every American has the right to do, which is your First Amendment rights. And what we see the response is, is really, you know, a pure, un-American authoritarianism. And it should scare us all, because if they can do this to a U.S. senator, they can do this to the average American.
TAPPER: In your view, is there anything about Senator Padilla's actions that security could have in good faith, interpreted as a security risk?
DUCKWORTH: No. He was a long way from the stage. He – Look, he stood up and the first thing he said was, “I am Alex, I am U.S. Senator, I'm U.S. Senator Alex Padilla.” That is clear who he is. They should have let him speak. And frankly, he was doing his job as a U.S. Senator.
Look, Donald Trump is forcing the American military on American citizens. He's trying to intimidate American citizens. And he's doing and what they're doing now with DHS at this press conference is, number one, forcing a U.S. senator to the ground after he identified himself, after he was just trying to ask a question. And now they're trying to gaslight the American people and blatantly lying about what happened when there's video of it.
TAPPER: Yeah.
(…)