Kristi Noem’s dishonesty is finally coming back to haunt her. The Department of Justice is expected to get a recommendation on Monday to investigate her for possibly lying under oath earlier this month, according to former CBS journalist Scott MacFarlane. The recommendation is coming from Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, who are the top-ranking members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees.
The recommendation will point to at least four of Noem’s answers given under oath, including her responses about a $220 million ad campaign that reportedly led to her losing her job.
During her testimony before the committees, Noem struggled under questioning about a multi-million-dollar ad contract she had given to a company that was only eight days old.
While she was testifying under oath, Noem said that Donald Trump had approved the ad campaign.
However, the president later said he had no knowledge of it.
Noem may have misled lawmakers about how contracts were handled, saying there was an open bidding process when in fact she only allowed a few companies to present proposals and sent federal money to companies linked to her inner circle.
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Peter Welch are now looking into the ad campaign.
The recommendation will also call for an investigation into Noem’s claims about ICE meeting detention standards for detainees, how U.S. citizens are treated, and breaking court orders.
During her testimony, Noem said the Department of Homeland Security does not detain American citizens.
That’s not true. By October, DHS had detained at least 170 American citizens, including 20 children.
Noem also said DHS followed court orders, but federal judges have found that DHS has broken dozens of orders related to immigrants challenging the reasons for their detention.
It’s not clear if the Department of Justice, led by Pam Bondi, will move forward with an investigation against Noem.
A DHS official told MacFarlane, “Any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury is categorically false.”
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