Vice President JD Vance bashed Democrats at the state, local and national levels Friday during his visit to Los Angeles, accusing top California officials of encouraging violent protesters and Sen. Alex Padilla, whom he referred to as “José Padilla,” of engaging in “political theater.”
“I was hoping José Padilla would be here to ask a question. But, unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater, and that’s all it is,” Vance said. “It’s pure political theater. These guys show up. They want to be captured on camera doing something.”
Vance’s comments referred to an incident last week in which federal law enforcement agents handcuffed Padilla after he interrupted a news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Padilla was forcibly removed from the event but not arrested.
When asked why he referred to the senator as “José Padilla,” despite his first name being Alejandro, Taylor Van Kirk — a spokesperson for Vance — said “he must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.” Van Kirk did not elaborate.
In 2007, a jury convicted U.S. citizen José Padilla on charges of supporting al Qaeda after he was initially accused of planning to carry out a “dirty bomb” attack in the U.S. He was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison; it was later increased to 21 years.
A spokesperson for Sen. Padilla, Tess Oswald, called Vance’s remark “another unserious comment from an unserious administration.”