Two prominent Democrats on Capitol Hill are expected to file a recommendation with Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem for possible perjury.
The referral, according to investigative reporter Scott MacFarlane, will allege some of her remarks “appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Vice Chair Dick Durbin and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin will provide multiple examples of what they suggest are possible evidence of perjury by the DHS chief during her controversial congressional testimony earlier this month, MacFarlane reported.
“The recommendation for a criminal investigation will cite at least four statements made by Noem, including her responses to questions about a controversial, taxpayer-funded $220 million ad campaign, which prominently featured Noem,” MacFarlane reported. Other topics will focus on her remarks on the “conditions of U.S. immigrant detention facilities, the Trump Administration’s detention of U.S. citizens and the Department of Homeland Security’s alleged defiance of federal court orders.”
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During a March 3 hearing, Republican U.S. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana asked Noem if President Donald Trump was aware of her plans for the $220 million advertising campaign. Noem responded, “Yes,” but later, President Trump told reporters, “I never knew anything about it.”
Senator Kennedy had told Noem that the ads were “effective in your name recognition.”
Also at issue for Durbin and Raskin are Noem’s statements that the bidding process for the $220 million ad was competitive.
“New public reporting, however, indicates that those statements may have been false,” the recommendation reportedly will say. “It has been reported that not only did the Secretary ‘handpick’ four companies for the ad campaign, but procurement records show the ‘ad work was awarded using ‘other than full and open competition,’ and the four companies were politically connected to Noem and her allies.'”
Attorney General Pam Bondi is not legally obligated to open an investigation and a DHS spokesperson told MacFarlane that “Any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury is categorically false.”
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