Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) of engaging in “political theater” following his outburst during a Thursday press conference, suggesting he should have spoken to her privately.

Padilla was forcibly removed from Noem’s briefing in Los Angeles on Thursday, where the Trump administration has deployed the National Guard and Marines to quell anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement riots as agents work to deport illegal immigrants.

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“This man burst into the room and started lunging toward the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped,” Noem explained on Fox News’s The Story with Martha MacCallum.

She added that the senator did not immediately identify himself, and that “appropriate actions” were taken as soon as he made it known. The two spoke at length after the news conference.

“I had a conversation with the senator after this, we sat down for 10-15 minutes and talked about the fact that nobody knew who he was, he didn’t say who he was until he was already had been lunging forward and people were trying to detain him for quite a period of time, and that this, we’re leaders, we’re public servants,” Noem added. “And if he had requested a meeting, I would have loved to have sat down and had a conversation with him, but coming into a press conference like this is political theater. It’s wrong and it does a disservice to this country and the people who live here.”

Noem also rebuked Padilla’s “ridiculous” question of how deportees are being treated, “if this is how this administration responds to a U.S. senator with a question.” The secretary noted how Padilla disrupted her press conference and resisted others who were attempting to stop him, questioning if the senator “wanted the scene.”

Noem then pushed back against claims from Democratic senators, including Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), who asked on X if President Donald Trump is requesting people to “start arresting United States senators.” Noem explained that Padilla was “never arrested” and that he was in the process of getting handcuffed before he identified himself and requested a meeting with the secretary, which Padilla also confirmed to reporters.

“People just need to get over themselves and have the backs of law enforcement and this president, who just want to clean up America and make it safe again,” Noem said.

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Following his removal from Noem’s press conference, Padilla vowed Democrats “will hold this administration accountable.”

Meanwhile, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin pushed back against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) claim that Padilla’s removal from the press conference was “dictatorial,” stating that the senator “chose disrespectful political theatre.” She added that the Secret Service thought Padilla “was an attacker.”