Kristi Noem under CROSS-EXAM at SENATE HEARING
MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Democrats and Republican Senators cross-examining Kristi Noem and exposing why she needs to be removed immediately. Visit Meidas+ | MeidasTouch Network | Substack for more!
Tillis threatens to hijack Senate business amid frustrations with Noem
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) threatened Tuesday to use aggressive procedural measures to bring Senate work to a standstill if Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem fails to respond to his offices’ inquiries about an immigration crackdown in Charlotte, North Carolina.
An irate Tillis, who is retiring this year from the Senate, ripped into Noem during her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, saying that he would use his power as a senator to hold nominations and prevent bills from getting to the Senate floor.
“If I don't get an answer that you've had a month to respond to, and the remaining ones … as of today, I'll be informing leadership that I'm putting a hold on any en bloc nominations until I get a response, and in two weeks, if I don't get a response, I'm going to deny quorum and markup in as many committees as I can until I get a response,” Tillis said.
The announcement from Tillis, who has called repeatedly for Noem to leave her post, would represent a rare escalation from any senator — in particular one from the president’s party — in the face of frustrations with a member of the Cabinet. Such a move, if he follows through with his threat, would hijack much of the Senate’s standard operating procedure.
Since 2025, the Senate has voted on some administration nominees en bloc — or as a group — to overcome tight margins. Meanwhile, denying quorum and markup in committee limits how legislation — and individual nominations — can advance in the Senate to the floor.
Tillis is a member of the Judiciary committee, as well as the Finance, Banking and Veterans’ Affairs committees. Disruptions to the latter three’s work could prove especially disruptive for the Senate.
Tillis’ anger reflects bubbling frustrations with Trump’s embattled DHS chief among Republicans, who have called for some changes to the tone and tenor of the administration’s immigration crackdown after immigration officers shot and killed two American citizens in Minneapolis in January.
In November 2025, ICE launched a crackdown in Charlotte similar to what it implemented in Minneapolis and other major cities across the country. While DHS claimed the operation was successful in apprehending hundreds of unauthorized immigrants with criminal records, concerns have been raised that ICE accidentally detained U.S. citizens.
Terribly Awkward!’ GOP Senator Scolds Kristi Noem for Dropping $220M On DHS Ads That Feature Her ‘Prominently’
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) scolded Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over a $220 million advertising campaign that features her image, pressing her on how the expenditure aligned with administration calls to curb government waste.
Noem appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday when Kennedy grilled her on whether President Donald Trump personally approved spending for the campaign last last year, expressing skepticism that he would as he also and claimed the contracted firm was run by her ex-spokesperson’s spouse.
“How do you square that concern for waste, which I share, with the fact that you have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently?” Kennedy began.
Noem defended the campaign as part of the president’s immigration agenda: “Sir, the president tasked me with getting the message out to the country, and to other countries where we were seeing the invasion come from. with putting commercials out that told them that if they were in this country illegally, that they needed to leave, or we would detain them and remove them, and they’d not get the chance to come back to America the right way.”
Kennedy pressed Noem repeatedly on whether Trump signed off in advance, to which she replied at one point: “We had that conversation, yes, before I was put in this position and sworn in and confirmed and since then as well.”
After circling the subject again, Noem told the senator that the advertisements had been “extremely effective.”
“Well, they were effective in your name recognition,” Kennedy countered. “I mean, I personally, to me, it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot. And I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth, it’s just hard for me to believe, knowing the President, as I do, that you said, ‘Mr. President, here’s some ads I’ve cut, and I’m going to spend $220 million running them’, that he would have agreed to that. I don’t think Russ Vought at OMB would have agreed to that.”
The secretary also claimed that the creation of the advertisements “went out to a competitive bid.”
The senator, however, also challenged her on that process of selecting a contractor, citing his own research suggesting one firm was created just days before securing the work and noting reported ties to Noem’s former political circle.
Noem denied any role in selecting contractors.
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The post ‘Terribly Awkward!’ GOP Senator Scolds Kristi Noem for Dropping $220M On DHS Ads That Feature Her ‘Prominently’ first appeared on Mediaite.
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