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Exclusive: New video shows tussle between Rep. Nadler staffer and federal officers
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Jun 5, 2025
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Courtesy, Rep. Jerry Nadler's office.
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Jun 5, 2025
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New surveillance video shared with Gothamist shows that a U.S. Department of Homeland Security officer pushed a staffer in Rep. Jerry Nadler's Manhattan office before she pushed him back and was subsequently handcuffed.
The security camera video shows the lead-up to last week's dramatic confrontation, which was first reported by Gothamist and prompted House Democrats to call for a congressional investigation. The incident was the latest in a series of conflicts between federal law enforcement officers and members of Congress tied to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The confrontation in Nadler’s office came during a chaotic day at the federal building at 201 Varick St., which also houses a federal immigration courthouse. Before the incident, a Nadler staffer had invited immigration court observers up to Nadler’s office after a conflict between federal officers and the observers, according to Robert Gottheim, Nadler’s chief of staff.
The security footage, provided to Gothamist by Nadler’s staff, shows an overhead view of Nadler’s reception area. It does not capture audio. It shows DHS officers entering the waiting area of Nadler’s Manhattan office and then there appears to be a brief conversation between the officers and others in the room.
An officer is then seen attempting to push past a staffer to enter a private area of Nadler’s office. The officer approaches the staffer, pushes his hand against a door, pushes his chest against the staffer and grabs her sweater. The staffer extends her arms to block the officer from entering, as another officer approaches. Then she pushes both officers away. One of the officers then pulls her arms behind her back and handcuffs her.
Gottheim said the video footage from May 28 is unedited and bolsters their claim that federal officers pushed the staff member before handcuffing her. A DHS spokesperson did not immediately comment on the new video, but in a previous statement they said the officers were trying to conduct a security check and detained one person who blocked them from doing so.
Gottheim asked Gothamist to blur the handcuffed staffer’s face in the video, out of concerns for the staffer’s privacy and fears of retaliation. The other people in the video asked Gothamist to blur their faces as they also feared reprisals.
No one was arrested or charged in the incident. The initial video showed a DHS officer handcuffing a crying staff member as a second aide asks a different officer for a warrant. In response, Democrats have called for a congressional investigation into the incident and for the DHS officers who were involved to be identified.
Gottheim claimed the officers said they didn’t need to provide a warrant, didn’t ask if the staff were OK, and instead shouted at the staffer who was eventually handcuffed. The DHS officers were members of the Federal Protective Service, assigned to guard federal government facilities and employees.
“The gentlemen that were supposed to protect us came to intimidate us,” Gottheim said, adding that the officers crossed “a red line, a bright line” by handcuffing a congressional aide inside a congressmember's office.
Later that evening, nearly two dozen people were arrested in a protest outside the courthouse in which activists blocked DHS vans carrying immigrants from leaving the premises.
In a statement last week, a DHS spokesperson said officers were responding to information that protesters were present inside the office and visited “to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those present.” The spokesperson said one individual had become “verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office,” and they detained her to complete a security check. The agency did not respond to a request for comment about the new video evidence, and resent the same statement.
On WNYC’s "The Brian Lehrer Show" on Thursday, Nadler called the incident an example of “creeping fascism” and claimed the Trump administration is trying to intimidate congressmembers. “If they can violate the civil rights of a Member of Congress, they can do it to you too,” Nadler wrote in a statement on X after this article was first published.
Inside Nadler's office
While the video does not have sound, Gottheim recounted the dialogue based on his conversations with staff members who were there.
Gottheim said that when the DHS officers entered, they asked about “protesters” present in the office. He said the staffer responded, “What protesters?”
Gottheim said the officers asked to speak to him in the roughly minutelong conversation that followed. Eventually, the aide said she needed to get her supervisor. Shortly after she opened the door to the office’s private area, one of the officers attempted to push past her, the video shows. She is then seen on the video pushing the officer before he pulls her back and handcuffs her.
According to the security footage, one officer takes the handcuffed staffer into the hallway, where she is held for about 20 minutes before being escorted out of the security camera's view.
After the DHS officers handcuff the staffer, the security footage shows them talking to the three people in the waiting area, who hand the officers their identification cards.
Response from House Democrats
The video has incited a firestorm of criticism and concern from fellow Democrats.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has called for the identification of officers involved in the incident, which he called an “aggressive overreach.”
“This is America. This is not the Soviet Union,” Jeffries said at a recent press conference. “Every single one of them — no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes — will of course be identified.”
Rep. Joseph Morelle, a Democrat from Rochester and ranking member of the House Administration Committee, also responded to the incident on Wednesday afternoon by sending a “Dear Colleague” letter to offices of fellow House Democrats, urging them – in bold – to limit access to their physical space. That included only taking pre-scheduled appointments, using doorbells and assessing whether law enforcement requests are justified.
The letter also reminded fellow congressmembers that law enforcement may only enter a space if they provide a valid warrant or if there are “exigent circumstances.” It suggests, at times, to “exercise caution” in interactions with law enforcement.
But the letter said there are also circumstances when “there may be legitimate reasons” to allow law enforcement in their offices, in cases of certain emergencies or threats.
Morelle wrote, “Controlling your physical space and knowing your rights are key to the peaceful resolution of incidents and to protecting your staff and your office's interests and prerogatives.”
In the days since the incident, Nadler’s office staffers now check the hallway security camera before answering a doorbell, according to Gottheim.
Tagged
Politics
immigration
new york city
public safety
Arya Sundaram
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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