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Speaker 1: Talk Ink Clue Paku Bay breaking News.

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Speaker 2: Democratic Senator Alex Padilla speaking on Capitol Hill after being

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forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary A Christy No Homes

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press conference last week.

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Speaker 3: Let's listen. Now we're seeing President Trump federalized National Guard

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troops and deploy them without the governor's consent. Active duty

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marines now being deployed, escalating tensions in our city. And

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it's important to note all this without coordination with state

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and local law enforcement, and despite repeated requests for the

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justification for these extreme actions, and after months and months

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of little to no response from the administration. Are their

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aggressive and theatrical immigration rates. The Trump administration has done

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everything in their power but to provide transparency to the

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American people about their mission in Los Angeles. And so

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last week I chose to go home to try to

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get answers from the administration as they are literally militarizing

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our city and I want to share what I learned.

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I want to share what I heard because it should

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shock the conscience of our country. Now. One of the

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first items on my schedule last Thursday was a meeting

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and a briefing with General Guillot the four star general

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in charge of US Northern Command. Many of you know him.

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The briefing was scheduled at the Federal Building in West

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Los Angeles, where they're overseeing these military operations. Now, colleagues,

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when the United States military is deployed domestically, when our

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troops are deployed against the wishes of the governor for

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the first time since nineteen sixty five, against the wishes

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of the local mayor, and even against the wishes of

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local law enforcement, both the police chief and the sheriff,

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we are in uncharted territory. So, in my effort to

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do my duty to conduct congressional oversight and to try

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to get answers from the Department of Defense that state

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and local officials were not receiving, I went to the

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Federal Building in West Los Angeles. I was met at

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the entrance. At the entrance by a National guardsman and

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an FBI agent who escorted me through security screening and

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up to a conference room for my scheduled briefing. Waiting

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for my scheduled briefing with General Guillot, I learned that

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Homeland Security Secretary Noam was holding a press conference literally

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just down the hall and that press conference was causing

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my briefing to be delayed. The thought occurred to me that, well,

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maybe I could attend this press conference and listen in,

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just listen in the hopes of hearing Secretary and don't

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provides some new information that could help us make sense

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of what was happening. I didn't just get up and go.

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I asked and was escorted by the National guardsman and

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the FBI agent into the press conference. They opened the

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door for me, They accompanied me into the press briefing room,

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and they stood next to me as I stood there

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for a while listening, and at one point, the United

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States Secretary of Homeland Security said that the purpose of

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federal law enforcement and the purpose of the United States

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Military was to quote liberate Los Angeles from our governor

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and our mayor, to somehow liberate us from the very

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people that we democratically elected to lead our city and

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our state. Colleagues, let that fundamentally un American mission statement

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sink in. That is not a mission focused on public safety,

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and that simply is not and cannot be the mission

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of federal law enforcement and the United States Military to

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colleys on both sides of the isle. Are we truly

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prepared to live in a country where the president can

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deploy the armed forces to decide which duly elected governors

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and mayors should be allowed to leave their constituents. Is

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that really the president that we're okay with setting As

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Secretary of Noam herself said last year when she was

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governor of North Dakota at the time, she said, quote,

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if Joe Biden federalizes the National Guard, that would be

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a direct attack on states rights. That was governor, now

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Secretary know them now. Throughout this country's history, we've had conflict,

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we've had tumult, but we've never had a tyrant as

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a commander in chief. And that is not by coincidence.

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It's because the American people have always been willing to

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speak up and exercise their First Amendment right to protest,

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especially when our fundamental rights have been threatened. And it's

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a proud son of immigrants from Mexico. It's that same

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right that I came to revere when marching through the

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streets with my family and my friends in nineteen ninety

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four in Los Angeles protesting against the vile anti immigrant

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rhetoric that was growing in California at that time. It

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was that year that a Republican governor was up for

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reelection and was down in the polls, and he turned

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to scapegoating immigrants to try to improve his political standing

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and his reelection chances. That fight is what inspired me

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to leave an engineering careerd and dedicate myself to trying

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to influence our government and our politics. So I've seen

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this before, California has seen this before. So last week,

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when I heard something so blatantly un American from the

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Secretary of Homeland Security, a cabinet official, of course, I

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was compelled, both as a Senator and as an American

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to speak up. But before I could even get out

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my question, I was physically and aggressively forced out of

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the room, even as I repeatedly announced I was a

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United States Senator and I had a question for the Secretary,

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and even as the National Guardsman and the FBI agent

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who served as my escorts and brought me into that

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press briefing room stood by silently, knowing full well who

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I was. You've seen the video. I was pushed and pulled,

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struggled to maintain my balance. I was forced to the ground,

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first on my knees and then flat on my chest.

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And as I was handcuffed and marched down a hallway,

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repeatedly asking why am I being detained? Not once did

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they tell me why. I pray you never have a

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moment likeness, but I will tell you in that moment,

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a lot of questions came to my mind. First of all,

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where are they taking me? Because I know I'm not

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just being escorted out of the building. Am I being

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arrested here? And what will a city already on edge

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from being militarized think when they see their United States

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senator being handcuffed just for trying to ask a question?

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And what will my wife think? What will our boys think?

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And I also remember asking myself, if this aggressive escalation

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is the result of someone speaking up against the abuses

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and overreach of the Trump administration, was it really worth it?

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But colleagues, how many Americans in our nation's history have marched,

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have protested, have shed blood, even lost their lives to

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protect our rights? How many Americans have served in wars

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overseas to protect our freedoms here at home? And how

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many Americans in the year twenty twenty five see a

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vindictive president on a tour of retribution unrestrained by the

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majority of this separate and coequal branch of government, and

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wonder if it's worth it to stand up or to

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speak out. A few United States Center becomes too afraid

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to speak up, how can we expect any other American

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to do the same, Colleagues, you know me, I can't

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think of a person who would describe me as a flamethrower.

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I try to be respectful. I try to be considerate

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to every member of this body, regardless of our political differences,

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and so I do want to take a moment to

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thank all of my colleagues on both sides of the

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aisle who have reached out to share your messages of support,

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whether they were public messages or many in private. Trust me,

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they mean the world to me. I know they mean

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the world to my family. But if you watch what

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unfolded last week and that what happened is just about

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one politician and one press conference, you're missing the point.

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If that is what the administration is willing to do

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to a United States Senator for having the authority to

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simply ask a question, imagine what they'll do to any

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American who dares to speak up.

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Speaker 2: If what you saw happen an emotional California Senator Alex

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Padilla there. Just about forty five minutes ago, he tweeted

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that he would be here on the floor of the

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Senate floor to talk about the what he calls the

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militarization of Los Angeles, his hometown, and his experience of

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being thrown to the ground and handcuffed when attempting to

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get answers from the administration. As you'll remember during those

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protests here in Los Angeles, when DHS Secretary Christy Nome

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held this press conference, the senator said he showed up

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to ask questions of the secretary, was saying it right

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there in the presence of the secretary, but you can

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see her detail taking him right out, and well, you

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heard from the Senator about what happened next. They did

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meet later after that, the Secretary and the Senator, but

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it's still clearly an emotional situation. As the Senator says,

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he's worried about others and how they are treated as

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these immigration raids continue across the country. Let's bring in

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our Christian Cordero here in Washington. Padilla, as we know

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as the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee.

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Let's talk about his Republican colleagues who have the majority,

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and how they're reacting to all this Christian Well.

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Speaker 1: Kiera, it'll be really interesting to see whether they react

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in a form of action. But we know as far

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as the Republican Party overall in reaction to this over

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the past week or so, it's really a mixed bag.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: Several were Republican have said that Padilla got exactly what

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he wanted, that he was there to put on a show.

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DHS Secretary Noahim said that she didn't recognize him, and

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you heard him go into detail during this testimony about

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how he was escorted in by the National Guard and

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the FBI, how he sat there and listened to some

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of her speech before or her remarks anyways, before you know,

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asking his question and approaching the podium, and then you know,

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no one later slammed him too for not setting up

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a meeting with him, and he kind of alluded to

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just that it was an act of impulse, so to speak.

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One thing he said, though that does echo from one

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of his Republican colleagues in the Senate anyways, is he

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said it should shock the conscious of our country. Senator

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Lisa Murkowski said it is shocking at every level, the

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video that she saw and that it's not the America

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she knows.

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Speaker 2: And as we monitor this, we should point out it's

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been calm on the streets of Los Angeles today, Fingers crossed.

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Christian Cordero, thank you so much.