WATCH: Sen. Schiff Presses DHS Secretary Noem on Disastrous Stonewalling of Internal Investigations and Corrupt Ties to $220 Million Ad Contract

Schiff to Noem: "How do you imagine you are going to gain the trust of the American people if you're pushing out false information about the shooting of American citizens?… How is the public supposed to believe anything your agency says or finds?"

Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) pressed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on her response in the immediate aftermath of the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good - who were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January - in which she lied to the American public by falsely labeling these victims as having committed "acts of domestic terrorism."

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Schiff demanded Noem take responsibility for the mishandling of internal investigations by DHS - including politicalized manipulation of facts and the agency's refusal to work with state and local investigators, stating "You are responsible, you are responsible. You could insist on independent investigations, but you are not. You could wait until there is good information after a shooting before you go to the press and the public and mislead them."

Schiff closed by calling out repeated reports of wasteful misuse of resources at DHS - questioning Noem about the concerning allegations of favoritism in federal contracting, including the $220 million ad campaign being paid out to a company that was created just days before they won the contract and who hired a subcontractor with personal ties to a former DHS spokesperson.

Watch the full clip HERE. Download the clip HERE.

Key Excerpts:

On calling out Noem for falsely labeling innocent victims in Minnesota as having committed "acts of domestic terrorism":

Schiff: […] Madam Secretary I want to ask you about one of the first claims you made in the immediate aftermath of the shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. You accused them both, I think, within hours of engaging in domestic terrorism. You have testified earlier that you did so based on preliminary field reports. Who told you that these two victims were engaged in domestic terrorism? Where did you get that information from?

Noem: I have said before and will repeat again for you Senator, that those reports were coming from on the ground agents that were there. It was a chaotic scene.

Schiff: So, you spoke to agents on the ground who told you they were domestic terrorists?

Noem: Yes, my team was working with me, talking to those agents on the ground to relay as much information as possible that we could to the American people.

Schiff: So, your team told you that people in Minneapolis said they were domestic terrorists. Did they tell you whether they had any basis for that claim within either minutes or hours of the shooting of Alex Pretti and Renee Good?

Noem: Sir, if you look back at the day of January 24, there was a press conference earlier in the day and then I held one hours later. And we were also talking -

Schiff: I'm asking you, did you determine whether there was any basis for the sensational claim, a claim that proved to be utterly false, that these two victims were engaged in domestic terrorism?

Noem: There is an investigation ongoing. The FBI is leading -

Schiff: I'm aware of that. I'm asking you -

Noem: - there is also internal investigations that are ongoing -

Schiff: What I'm asking about though is not the investigation that's ongoing […] I'm asking about your statements in the immediate aftermath of these shootings. Your statements based on completely unvetted information. Information that if it was even provided to you, proved to be utterly false. That you were content to tell the whole country. Do you have any concern about misleading the whole country? Don't you think in the immediate aftermath of a shooting that you should provide only vetted information to the public? How do you imagine you are going to gain the trust of the American people if you're pushing out false information about the shooting of American citizens?

On DHS's mishandling of investigations:

Noem: […] These investigations are being done in the same way they always are. And the FBI is leading -

Schiff: No, they are not being done in the way they always were because you are not allowing -

Noem: There are internal investigations as well. In these situations, ICE has an internal investigation -

Schiff: Excuse me, excuse me.

Noem: Would you like to hear about the investigations that are ongoing?

Schiff: You are not allowing state and local investigators to participate -

Noem: That is not my decision.

Schiff: And furthermore -

Noem: The Department of Justice and FBI decides how investigations go forward.

Schiff: Furthermore, they are not being conducted in the way investigations always are. Are you telling me that in the case of Marimar Martinez that having an agent involved in shooting her, drive a vehicle that was used to ram into her vehicle - drive that vehicle, that evidence away from the scene, and a thousand miles to Maine, you're telling me that is the way investigations are always done? That you let an agent involved in an officer-involved shooting drive a key piece of evidence a thousand miles away? Is that how you conduct investigations at DHS?

Noem: I'm not conducting these investigations into these. The Department of Justice with the FBI is conducting those investigations and CBP -

Schiff: But will you take some responsibility for how investigations are conducted, when ICE agents -

Noem: We follow -

Schiff: Agents under your control are engaged in the use of force.

Noem: The investigations into our officers have not changed under my leadership or the president's leadership than what they were in the previous administration -

Schiff: I know there is a great desire to point the finger that "Oh that's being done by Pam Bondi's Justice Department. I'm not responsible for that malpractice."

Noem: Our internal investigations are following the same policies that they always have.

Schiff: "Or that's the order of Stephen Miller so I'm not responsible for that either."

Noem: No.

Schiff: But you are responsible, you are responsible.

On the corrupt ties of Noem and her staff members to companies who received millions in federal DHS contracts:

Schiff: […]It is just a coincidence that $143 million subcontract went to the husband of your press person? Also, someone that Corey Lewandowski, one of your special government employees worked with extensively. So, that was all a coincidence, right? Because you had no knowledge of this? No involvement. And none of the people around you had any involvement? So, taxpayers should just assume this is a coincidence?

Noem: Media companies that gets the contract has the ability to choose the subcontract. We don't weigh in on who subcontractors are. There is not a legal process for us to determine what subcontractors are part of a contract that goes out for a competitive bid -

Schiff: Can you state for the record that -

Noem: - and only career employees at DHS were in on the choosing of those media contracts.

Schiff: Excuse me. Can you state for the record then, that neither you nor Mr. Lewandowski nor your press secretary married to the husband of the person who got this $143 million -

Noem: We were not part of the decision -

Schiff: And can you say for the record that none of you that I've just described had any role, played any part, made any communication with any government agency that was involved in deciding who would get that contract?

Noem: To the best of my knowledge none of us were involved in deciding who got those contracts.

Schiff: Were any of you involved in advocating, communicating, or expressing a preference in any way -

Noem: Not to my knowledge.

Schiff: Excuse me, let me just finish the question. Were any of you involved in any way communicating or expressing a preference in any form, manner, verbal, written, with any government agency that was involved in the contracting process?

Noem: The same process was followed for that contract that is for all media contracts that have gone forward.

Schiff: You're not answering my question.

Noem: To my knowledge there was no involvement whatsoever of anybody that is on the political appointee side of this position and that media contract.

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