(CNN) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem faced tough questions from Democrats and some Republicans during a hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
Senators grilled Noem about her early descriptions of two US citizens who were killed by federal officers in Minneapolis, her agency’s use of administrative warrants to search homes and private property, her use of executive jets and whether immigration officers will be deployed to polling places ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Noem and several GOP senators criticized Democrats for the ongoing partial shutdown of DHS in a time of heightened security, but while the secretary said the department has started to re-vet some migrants in the wake of the US attacks on Iran over the weekend, she offered no specifics about possible threats as a result.
Here are the takeaways from the hours-long hearing:
Noem defends her early descriptions of Alex Pretti and Renee Good
Noem tried to split hairs during the hearing by claiming she never called Alex Pretti, the man shot and killed by DHS officers in Minnesota earlier this year, a domestic terrorist, but rather said his actions were an act of domestic terrorism.
Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked Noem if she had anything to say to Pretti’s parents after calling their son a domestic terrorist.
“I can’t even imagine what they have gone through in the loss of their son,” Noem said, declining for the second time Tuesday when asked to apologize to Pretti’s family.
Noem then defended her comments, saying, “I did not call him a domestic terrorist. I said it appeared to be an instance of” domestic terrorism.
“I think the parents saw what it was,” Klobuchar responded.
In the initial aftermath of the killing of Pretti, Noem was asked at a press conference whether she agreed with White House officials calling Pretti a domestic terrorist and, if so, what evidence she had to support such a claim.
“When you perpetuate violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and perpetuate violence, that is the definition of domestic terrorism,” Noem said at the time.
Shortly after Pretti was killed, Noem also claimed that Pretti had “brandished” a firearm he was carrying when he had been shot. But video of the killing later contradicted that claim, showing his handgun was not visible until officers had already put their hands on him. The gun was taken off Pretti seconds before he was shot.
Earlier during the hearing, she declined to retract her initial descriptions of both Pretti and Renee Good, who was also killed in Minneapolis by DHS officers weeks before Pretti.
In an exchange with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, Noem called both situations “tragic” and explained that her description of Pretti and Good were based on reports on the ground.
“Do you retract these statements identifying these individuals as domestic terrorists?” Durbin asked.
“When we have these situations happen, we always offer our condolences to these families. These are tragic situations,” Noem said, adding: “We always work to provide the American people with as much information as possible. We’re relying on reports on the ground and agents who are there.”
The Department of Homeland Security came under intense scrutiny over actions in Minneapolis and conflicting accounts provided by senior officials over the deaths of Pretti and Good.
“Is it so hard to say you were wrong?” Durbin asked.
“I absolutely strive to provide factual information,” she said.
Republican presses Noem on ad buy
Some of the fiercest exchanges with Noem came from Republican Sens. Tillis and John Kennedy of Louisiana.
Kennedy confronted Noem about her agency’s advertising campaign, which, as the senator pointed out, often prominently showcase Noem. ProPublica reported last year the recipient of a lucrative subcontract was Ben Yoho, the husband of a former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
While Noem argued that bids for the advertisements were properly submitted, Kennedy said his research “shows that you did not bid them out” and, in one instance, chose a company that was formed “11 days before you picked them.”
“Look, we all have friends who are qualified. I’m not quibbling with that,” Kennedy said.
The Republican senator added that the $220 million price tag “troubles me” especially when, Kennedy said, Congress “is scratching for every penny.”
“I just can’t agree,” Kennedy said of the spending.
Noem said she had nothing “to do with picking those contractors” and said the president had “tasked me with getting the message out to the country” on the department’s deportation efforts.
Yoho’s company, the Strategy Group, claimed on social media after the hearing it did not have a contract with DHS directly but instead obtained a sub-contract with Safe America. In total, Yoho’s company made “$226,137.17 total for 5 film shoots, 45 produced video advertisements and 6 produced radio advertisements,” according to the company.
GOP senator brings up Cricket and asks Noem to resign
Tillis railed against Noem and the administration’s deportation efforts during the hearing, accusing her office of not providing information on immigration efforts in North Carolina and stalling FEMA aid.
Tillis is not seeking re-election.
He honed in on statements Noem made before she was part of Trump’s cabinet, including accounts she wrote about in her memoir of her killing her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, and a family goat. Noem wrote in her book that the dog was “untrainable” and that the goat was “nasty and mean.”
“A 14-month old dog is basically a teenager in dog years,” Tillis said.
“You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time and training, and then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it’s a leadership lesson about tough choices,” Tillis said. “And you killed a goat because you said it was behaving badly. You are a farmer. You don’t castrate a goat, they behave badly. You should have probably done that before.”
Tillis accused DHS of arresting innocent American citizens and highlighted the death of several individuals at the hands of DHS agents.
“We’re beginning to get the American people to think that deporting people is wrong,” Tillis said of what he called Noem’s disastrous leadership. “It’s the exact opposite. The way you’re going about deporting them is wrong.”
Tillis also criticized Noem for failing “admit to a mistake” in the shootings of Good and Pretti.
“Law enforcement needs to learn,” he said, “that you don’t protect them by not looking at the facts.”
‘No plans’ to send ICE officers to polling locations. But…
Noem said her department had “no plans” to send immigration enforcement officers to polling locations ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
But pressed repeatedly by Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, Noem declined to rule out the possibility entirely.
Coons asked Noem about comments from Stephen Bannon, a former White House adviser during the first Trump administration, indicating he believed immigration agents should be deployed to polling places.
“Will you rule out the deployment of ICE or CBP to polling places this November?” Coons asked.
Noem responded: “There are no plans to have ICE officers at our polling locations.”
Coons pressed Noem to explicitly rule it out.
Noem responded: “Do you plan on illegal aliens voting in our elections?” She then again repeated that there were “no plans” to deploy immigration officers at polling places in November.
Confronted over plane use
Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse confronted Noem over the use of an executive jet — displaying a picture, which was first reported by NBC News, of a bedroom inside the jet. NBC reported that the jet cost $70 million.
“What kind of deportee justifies being flown out of the country in a luxury jet with a bedroom and accommodations?” Whitehouse asked.
Noem responded that the picture was not accurate, and that the jet was being refurbished to get rid of the bedroom and would be used for deportation flights along with executive travel.
She said she had been on the plane once.
“The department has found that in purchasing our aircraft that we will save the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars,” she said.
Outside the hearing room, Kennedy sharply criticized Noem’s responses.
“I want to see her succeed, but I’m not going to sit here and watch this kind of spending porn of a cabinet secretary putting herself on TV to the tune of $220-plus million dollars without saying something, and the advertisements are still running,” Kennedy said.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.
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