A Democratic lawmaker is accusing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of lying to get out of a tense House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Thursday.
Noem's office has denied the allegations.
Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson has subpoenaed Noem to reappear before the committee, alleging that she not only bailed on her duties to testify before the panel, but also may have misled lawmakers by claiming she had to attend a meeting that had actually been canceled.
Noem left the committee hearing early, saying she needed to attend a meeting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency Council. But that meeting had been canceled.
Noem's office said it did not know the meeting had been canceled until after the DHS head left the hearing. The Independent has requested comment from Noem’s office.
"The Secretary found out at 12:26 p.m. that the meeting was cancelled,” a DHS spokesperson told The Hill. She left the hearing around noon.
“I understand on good information that the FEMA Council meeting was canceled so there was no need for her to go,” Thompson said, according to The Hill. “She was a liar with no respect for congressional oversight.”
He also claimed that Noem lingered in the committee's anteroom after she left the hearing, suggesting that she did not immediately depart to attend the meeting.
The hearing was not a friendly one for Noem. Thompson opened the hearing by calling for her resignation and accusing her of failing in the most basic of her duties.
"You have systematically dismantled the Department of Homeland Security, put your own interests above the department, and violated the law. You are making America less safe," Thompson said. "So rather than sitting here and wasting your time and ours with more corruption, lies, and lawlessness, I call on you to resign. Do a real service to the country and just resign. That is, if President Trump doesn't fire you first."
Congressman Seth Magaziner hit Noem with a particularly damning rebuttal after she claimed that the DHS, under her watch, had never deported a U.S. citizen or military veteran.
He then presented, via Zoom, Sae Joon Park, a U.S. military veteran and Purple Heart recipient who self-deported in 2025 after he received a removal order. Park was deported to Korea, where he has not lived since he was 7-years-old.
Following the contentious hearing and Noem’s hurried flight from the room, the DHS account on X attempted to save face.
“Your boos mean nothing to us. We’ve seen what makes you cheer,” the account wrote, aping a line from the adult cartoon Rick & Morty.
House Republicans voted down Thompson's motion to call Noem back in for another hearing.
Thompson said he had been told that Noem would stay until at least 1 p.m. on the day of the hearing.
“She joined FBI Director Kash Patel in telling the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security to pound sand by getting up and walking out in the middle of the hearing,” he said. “We were told that she’d be here until 1 o’clock, but she left significantly early. This is an embarrassing display from someone who can’t take the heat, is disrespectful to the committee and the Constitution [and] the separation of powers.”
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