Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, began his opening statement by highlighting the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Raskin said not long after Good and Pretti had been shot, Noem launched a “smear campaign” against them with her comments linking their actions to “domestic terrorism.”
“You provided no evidence to back up your defamatory lie against either of these American citizens,” Raskin said.
Raskin said “rather than work with state and local authorities to solve these homicides, you barred Minnesota’s investigators from the crime scenes.”
“You’re denying them access to all the evidence that you have about the deaths of their citizens,” Raskin said. “It smells like a cover-up, and it makes me wonder who the real domestic terrorists are.”
The Maryland Democrat also scrutinized Noem over a more than $200 million advertisement campaign and pointed to other lavish expenses under her leadership of DHS.
“Secretary Noem, you’re flying high now — maybe even a little bit too close to the sun,” Raskin said. “But with all these free planes and houses and pilots, you’ve traveled a long distance from your actual job, and the things you should be doing as head of Homeland Security.”
Raskin said Noem has “turned our government against our people” and “our people against our government.”
“But the people are winning today,” Raskin said. “We are clearly in the fight of our lives, and we obviously have very serious questions today about what you are turning our government into.”
