U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem rejected an opportunity to retract her allegations that the two American citizens shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, were “domestic terrorists.”
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Secretary Noem, instead of retracting her statements as Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL) suggested, attempted to blame federal agents on the ground for the “domestic terrorist” labels.
“You and your agency rushed to brand these victims as, quote, domestic terrorists,” Senator Durbin told Noem on Tuesday. “We have ample video evidence and eyewitness testimony proving you are wrong. Your statements caused immeasurable pain to these families. Let me give you an opportunity to do the right thing. Do you retract these statements identifying these individuals as domestic terrorists?”
“You know, Senator Durbin,” Noem replied, “when we have these situations happen, we always offer our condolences to those families, and I offer mine as well.” She called the situations “tragic.”
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“What I will say is, we always work to provide the American people with as much information as possible, that we’re relying on reports from the ground, and from agents that are there, and working to be transparent, and will continue to do all that we can to provide the accurate information and the facts to people, as we can.”
Critics blasted the DHS Secretary.
Republican former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock said it was “outrageous” that Noem “continues to lie” about the victims. “She should be fired or impeached. She’s unfit.”
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Image via Reuters