Overview
- Across nearly five hours of questioning, Kristi Noem stood by her early descriptions of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, citing chaotic on‑scene reports and declining to apologize or retract her remarks.
- Pressed on elections, Noem said there are "no plans" to deploy ICE or CBP to polling places but would not categorically rule it out when senators asked her to do so.
- Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and John Kennedy joined Democrats in grilling Noem, with Tillis urging her resignation and threatening procedural retaliation, and Kennedy challenging a $220 million DHS ad campaign linked to outside firms.
- Lawmakers scrutinized procurement and oversight practices, including questions about a leased executive jet and allegations flagged by the inspector general about paused internal inquiries into agent use‑of‑force incidents.
- DHS remains partially shut down as Senate Democrats press roughly 10 conditions such as body cameras, while Noem called the halt reckless, said about 100,000 employees are working without pay, and noted roughly 650 agents remain in Minnesota on fraud probes.