Politics & Policy

Republicans grill Noem over her management of DHS

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (left), Sen. John Kennedy (center) and Sen. Thom Tillis (right) during a congressional hearing on March 3. Photos: Mandel Ngan/AFP, Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg, Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images

Republicans put Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem under fire Tuesday over actions her agency has taken amid President Trump's immigration crackdown.

Why it matters: It was a public rebuke of the government's face for immigration policies, and at times became an airing of grievances about how Noem manages DHS, forcing her to justify some decisions.

• The hearing is the latest instance where Noem has been criticizedfor her ability to manage the agency, and follows several members of Congress calling for her toleave office, including from her own party. - Noem's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee lasted over four hours and occurred as DHS undergoes a shutdown due to a lapse in government funding, which happened in part due to disagreementsover Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

*Read more about GOP criticism of her leadership during Tuesday's hearing: *

Sen. Thom Tillis

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) gave the strongest rebuke for Noem during his minutes with her, calling the secretary a "disappointment."

• The North Carolina senator called his comments a "performance review" of Noem's time at DHS. "What we've seen is a disaster under your leadership," he said before vowing to hold up blocks of Senate nominationsuntil she answers questions about DHS responses to several inquiries and why some FEMA funding is stalled. - He also cited a letter from DHS's Office of the Inspector General as another example of Noem's leadership inadequacies, saying the office has "10 different instances under Ms. Noem's leadership where they've been misled and not allowed to pursue investigations that they think are critically important."

Tillis, who isn't running for re-election, has been one of the most outspoken opponents of Noem and previously called for her resignation.

• He also used Tuesday's hearing to criticize Noem for killing her dog.
• "You decided to kill that dog because you hadn't invested the appropriate training, then you have the audacity to write a book and say it's a leadership lesson."
• "Those are bad decisions, not unlike what happened in Minneapolis," he said.

Sen. John Kennedy

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) questioned Noem about spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertisements in which she is prominently featured and how the ads square up with her "concern for [government] waste."

• Noem responded that Trump "tasked me with getting the message out to the country" as well as other nations with considerable numbers of migrants crossing into the U.S.

*Kennedy also asked *Noem about spreading misleading information on Alex Pretti, a nurse who was killed by ICE agents in Minnesota.

• Noem and Trump's deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, had both accused Pretti of being a domestic terrorist. - "Here's what you said on the record," Kennedy said, "'Everything I've done I've done at the direction of the president and Stephen."

*In January, *Noem was quoted as saying as much to a person who later relayed her remarks to Axios, but she pushed back on Tuesday: "Where you're seeing that is in a news article of anonymous sources."

• Kennedy insisted that she said it on the record and asked her if she denied saying it.
• "I'm not going to speak to that situation that is relayed on anonymous sources," she said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley

*Sen. Chuck Grassley *(R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned Noem on why her agency failed to respond to a separate Inspector General report on the security risks of allowing passengers to go through airport security with shoes on.

• The rules change, the report said, created a "significant" security risk, the Wall Street Journal reported. - Grassley said he was concerned that the inspector general who wrote the classified report wasn't allowed to speak with some congressional committees, which Noem denied was the case.

*Yes, but: *Grassley's opening statement and questioning otherwise praised DHS and he used the opportunity to encourage Democrats to strike a deal to fund the agency.

*Go deeper: *Noem tightens her grip on DHS