Kristi Noem Destroyed by Homeland Security Democrats

Trump's fragile cabinet secretary lies to walks out of a hearing after being exposed as a total lightweight.

WASHINGTON — A guy dressed as a priest blurted out from the public seating at the Rayburn House Office Building on Thursday, waving a crucifix at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem like he was trying to chase the devil out of Congress.

“End deportations!” he screamed. “The power of Christ compels you!”

Capitol Police grabbed him before he could get close. They grabbed his friend too, some other protester who’d jumped up yelling. Noem sat there at the witness table, botox-faced, waiting for them to haul the guys out. She’d barely gotten two sentences into her opening statement.

It went downhill from there for Noem.

For the next two hours, Noem got worked over by Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee like a sparring partner who forgot to bring headgear. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chairs the committee, opened by telling her to resign. Not asking. Telling.

“You have systematically dismantled the Department of Homeland Security,” Thompson said, looking right at her. “Put your own interests above the department. Violated the law. You are making America less safe.”

Then he added: “Do a real service to the country and just resign. Do that if President Trump doesn’t fire you first.”

You don’t often see that many fireworks in congressional hearings. Usually there’s some pretense of civility, some coating of sugar on the medicine. Not Thursday. Thompson came out swinging and never stopped. WATCH the highlights here in this excellent recap from Ben at MeidasTouch:

This is your Homeland Security secretary, folks. This is what passes for the person in charge of keeping the country safe. A former governor who shot her own dog and wrote about it in a book, who now runs the third-largest federal agency like she’s still managing a staff of twelve people in Pierre.

And here’s the thing—she’s probably the worst of Trump’s cabinet picks, which is really saying something when you consider the collection of mindless, droning shitposters he assembled. But at least some of them know how to sit through a congressional hearing.

Not Noem.

At noon, right when the questioning was getting interesting, she stood up and announced she had to leave for a FEMA Council meeting. She was supposed to co-chair it, she said. Very important. Had to go right away.

Thompson wasn’t buying it. He said she’d promised to stay until 1 o’clock. She was leaving an hour early. “This is ridiculous,” somebody yelled from the gallery as Noem gathered her papers.

She walked down the aisle and out the door. People shouted at her the whole way. “Liar!” someone yelled. “Come back and answer the questions!” shouted another. A few members of Congress joined in, calling after her as she left.

Here’s the best part: The FEMA meeting was canceled.

Canceled.

There was no meeting. Noem had lied to Congress to get out of a hearing where Democrats were giving her a hard time.

Thompson immediately moved to subpoena her back to the committee. “She essentially dismissed the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security by walking out in the middle of the hearing,” he said. “This reflects poorly on someone who cannot handle scrutiny.”

The Republicans voted it down, of course. Can’t have their secretary looking even worse.

But she already did. The woman in charge of homeland security with zero credibility left can’t handle a few hours of tough questions from Congress. She can’t sit there and defend her policies and her record. She has to make up a fake meeting and run out the door while people jeer at her.

This is the person responsible for protecting 330 million Americans from terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and cyber threats. And she can’t even handle a basic hearing before the people’s Congress.

There’s a federal judge investigating whether she violated his court order by authorizing deportation flights to El Salvador. There are lawsuits about her blocking members of Congress from visiting detention facilities. There are Republicans in her own party furious about her $100,000 sign-off requirement that’s holding up FEMA emergency payments to disaster victims.

And Thursday morning, she couldn’t take the heat for two hours in a hearing room. At this point, there’s really only one word to describe Noem: PATHETIC

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