Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was rushed to a hospital in the Washington, D.C. area on Tuesday.
A DHS spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the Cabinet secretary suffered from an ‘allergic reaction.’
‘Secretary Noem had an allergic reaction today. She was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution. She is alert and recovering,’ Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
Sources told CNN that Noem was conscious at the hospital and was speaking with her security detail.
Noem generated headlines last week when she traveled to Los Angeles to defend Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials against demonstrators.
During a press conference Thursday, Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla tried asking her a question, in a scene that quickly turned chaotic.
Padilla, who has represented California since 2021, was forcibly removed from the room by multiple officers and placed in handcuffs.
Tuesday marked the first time Padilla spoke on the Senate floor about his experience.
Sources told CNN that Noem was conscious at the hospital and was speaking with her secret service agents
Padilla being removed from the DHS press briefing by law enforcement
In a message specifically meant for Noem, Padilla said, ‘I pray you never have a moment like this.’
She had previously suggested the California Democrat’s dust-up with law enforcement at her press conference was attention-seeking.
‘It wasn’t becoming of a U.S. senator or a public official, and perhaps he wanted the scene,’ Noem said on Fox News.
Padilla said that his treatment at Noem’s press conference should serve as a warning to all Americans.
‘If that is what the administration is willing to do to a United States senator for having the authority to simply ask a question imagine that they’ll do to any American who dares speak up,’ he pressed.
‘I was physically and aggressively forced out of the room, even as I repeatedly announced I was a United States senator and I had a question for the secretary,’ Padilla recounted.
‘Even as the National Guardsman and the FBI agent who served as my escorts and brought me into that press briefing room stood silently, knowing full well who I was,’ the senator said.
Noem said at the press conference that President Donald Trump federalized the California National Guard and deployed Marines to Los Angeles to ‘liberate’ the liberal-leaning city, whose residents elected Democrats for mayor, Congress and governor.
‘We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city,’ Noem had said.
At that moment, Padilla interrupted and was hauled off.
During his one day at the G7 Summit on Monday, Trump told the Daily Mail that he did plan to target Democrat-led cities with ICE raids.
‘I want them to focus on the cities because the cities are where you really have what’s called “sanctuary cities,” that’s where the people are,’ Trump answered.
