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Congressional Democrats are seeking criminal charges against Kristi Noem weeks after President Donald Trump ousted her from leadership of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the top Democrats on their respective chambers’ Judiciary Committees, sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday accusing Noem of lying to Congress during back-to-back hearings earlier this month.
“A number of her statements appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress,” the letter said. “After months of evading our Committees’ requests to testify in routine oversight hearings, Secretary Noem made a series of demonstrably false statements in a brazen attempt to undermine critical congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security.”
The top Democrats on the Senate and House Judiciary committees charged that there were four categories of statements Noem made during her testimony before the respective panels where the DHS chief could have perjured herself.
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Among those answers the lawmakers scrutinized were whether DHS follows court orders, Corey Lewandowski’s role in DHS contracts, whether immigration enforcement has detained U.S. citizens, and most notably the contracting process for a $220 million ad campaign heavily featuring Noem.
The ad campaign, in particular, was an explosive moment during Noem’s hearing earlier this month when Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressed her on whether there was a competitive bid process for the contracts and the substantial cash flow.
Noem told the panel that the contract did go through a competitive process, “and career officials at the Department chose who would do those advertising commercials.” When asked if President Donald Trump knew about the ad campaign and its eye-popping sum, Noem said he did.
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Trump contradicted that statement in an interview with Reuters, and Kennedy argued that it was “hard to believe” the president would give it the green light.
“It’s something we have to defend. I’m on the Appropriations Committee. I mean, my research shows that you did not bid them out,” Kennedy said.
He alleged that the group that received “most of the money” had direct ties to former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin and her husband, Benjamin Yoho, who runs the company.
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“Even if Secretary Noem was the one telling the truth about the President’s knowledge, and she may well have been, she flatly misrepresented that the contract had been subject to a competitive bid,” Durbin and Raskin wrote.
Yoho denied using his wife to secure lucrative contracts from the government, however, writing in a letter to Senate Democrats on Friday, “This statement is factually incorrect, and I respectfully request that you have your colleague correct the official record and issue an apology.”
Making false statements to Congress is classified as a felony, and a guilty verdict carries up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
But the Trump administration is sticking by Noem. A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury is categorically FALSE.”
Still, Democrats suggested that their effort would not end with the Trump administration, writing, “While we have low expectations that you will pursue this matter given your partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice, we note that the statute of limitations for perjury and for knowingly and willfully making false statements to Congress is five years.”
Trump announced earlier this month that Noem would no longer serve as DHS secretary and instead take on a new role as special envoy to the Shield of the Americas, a military coalition formed by the Republican president.
It comes after mounting criticism from both sides of the aisle over Noem’s handling of the department and its enforcement of Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
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Trump instead nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to take over the department. His confirmation hearing is expected this week.
Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment on Democrats’ letter.
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