US Democrats refer Kristi Noem to Justice Department over alleged false testimony

WASHINGTON

Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary committees called Monday on the US Justice Department to probe whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave false testimony under oath during her recent congressional hearings.

In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Jamie Raskin highlighted multiple instances where Noem allegedly provided false or misleading testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3 and the House Judiciary Committee on March 4.

"After months of evading our Committees’ requests to testify in routine oversight hearings, Secretary Noem made a series of demonstrably false statements in a brazen attempt to undermine critical congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security," they wrote.

The referral cites Noem’s repeated claims that the DHS and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) complied with federal court orders, despite documented violations.

The lawmakers noted in the letter that making false statements to Congress or under oath constitutes a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. §§1001 and 1621.

"While we have low expectations that you will pursue this matter given your partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice, we note that the statute of limitations for perjury and for knowingly and willfully making false statements to Congress is five years," they said.

In early March, President Donald Trump said that Sen. Markwayne Mullin will replace Noem, who was facing internal scrutiny following the killings of Americans Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in the state of Minnesota in January by ICE agents.

Democrats had been urging Trump to fire Noem and also signed on to an impeachment resolution against her.