Kristi Noem was fired by Donald Trump as Homeland Security secretary the same week she faced bipartisan grilling over two days of tense congressional hearings, and Democratic members of Congress are using the momentum to push for a criminal investigation into her 13-month stint at the agency.
Democrats are also still considering whether to impeach the outgoing secretary, whose last day on the job is March 31, in an effort to prevent her from ever holding public office again.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that Democrats' efforts “to rein in this out-of-control agency — and hold it accountable to the American people — must intensify with this breakthrough.”
He told NBC News that there needs to be a “reckoning” at the agency to account for the killings of Minneapolis residents, the failures of immigration officials to follow court orders, and the violent surge of immigration officers that have drawn allegations of unconstitutional abuses.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal is also calling for an investigation to find out whether she committed perjury when she testified that her adviser Corey Lewandowski did not sign off on contracts for the agency. “Evidence suggests your testimony was false,” he wrote in a letter to the secretary.
Lewandowski is not being paid for his role as a “special government employee,” yet Noem’s chief adviser holds considerable influence at DHS, and lawmakers have spent months demanding answers about the scope of his work and authority.
“Does Corey Lewandowski have a role in approving contracts, and if so, what is that role?” Blumenthal asked during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.
“His role is as a special government employee, and special government employees work for the White House and the administration,” she said. “There are thousands of them.”
“So, he does have a role,” he replied.
“No,” Noem said.
Blumenthal then sent a letter to Noem, citing internal DHS records that show Lewandowski personally approved several contracts — including multi-million dollar deals.
Noem implemented a department-wide policy that required her personal sign off on all contracts above $100,000. Officials working under each sign or initial a checklist before those documents reach Noem, including Lewandowski, whose signature routinely appears at the last name before the secretary’s, according to documents obtained by ProPublica.
Documents reviewed by Politico and The Wall Street Journal have also found Lewandowski was involved in several other six-figure contracts to DHS agencies.
Federal procurement records also show that DHS approved a $250,000 public affairs contract to American Made Media Company, a political consulting firm with ties to Lewandowski.
That post was published September 26 and bids were due the next day — an unusually tight deadline for a government contract, and one that required a winning bidder to demonstrate “an established track record of promoting Trump administration policies in the media.”
Under federal law, it is a crime to “knowingly and willfully” make a false statement to Congress.
“The law requires and Congress expects witnesses to provide complete and truthful testimony,” Blumenthal wrote to Noem.
“There are criminal penalties for knowingly and willfully making materially false statements or representations to Congress,” he added. “Accordingly, I demand that you amend your testimony to clarify your previous answer, including a full explanation of Mr. Lewandowski’s role at DHS, and provide the basis for your apparent false statement on the record.”
Noem has also come under fire for DHS spending $200 million for an advertisement campaign that routed $143 million to a firm operated by her spokesperson’s husband. Moments before announcing her exit from DHS, Trump said he “never knew anything about it.”
Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse, who questioned Noem’s taxpayer-funded spending, said Noem’s firing is just a “first step” for accountability.
“Accountability ultimately means that if there were any laws violated — procurement laws, conflict of interest laws — then ultimately evidence is uncovered and that prosecutions commence if appropriate,” he told CNN Thursday.
“And so, this is the beginning, not the end, with respect to accountability,” he said.
The Independent has requested comment from DHS.
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