EXCLUSIVE: Justice Dept to receive referral today to probe Kristi Noem for perjury

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department will receive a recommendation later today to conduct an investigation into whether former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem committed perjury in her testimony to Congress earlier this month.

The vice chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee will ask the Attorney General to review whether Noem knowingly made false statements during hearings conducted by the panels two weeks ago.

The proposal, which we will be directed to Pam Bondi, will also recommend a probe of Noem’s statements about the conditions of U.S. immigrant detention facilities, the Trump Administration’s detention of U.S. citizens and the Department of Homeland Security’s alleged defiance of federal court orders. The recommendation will be signed by Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who has the ranking position on the Senate Judiciary Committee and Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.

The referral to the Justice Department from the committee Democrats is expected to argue Noem’s testimony on March 3 and March 4 included statements that “appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress.”

“Any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury is categorically false,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told me over the weekend, in response to questions about Democratic criticism of her testimony.

The recommendation for the probe is expected to include transcripts of some of Noem’s answers about the advertising campaign. Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, asked Noem on March 3 if the President was aware of plans for the advertisements. Noem responded, “Yes.” The Judiciary Committee Democrats will cite a Trump interview, from days after Noem’s testimony, in which he said “I never knew anything about it.”

The Judiciary Committee Democrats also will cite Noem’s testimony about the bidding process for the advertisements. Their recommendation will excerpt Noem’s statement to Senator Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, that no political appointees were part of the process. The recommendation will say, “New public reporting, however, indicates that those statements may have been false. It has been reported that not only did the Secretary ‘handpick’ four companies for the ad campaign, but procurement records show the “ad work was awarded using ‘other than full and open competition,’ and the four companies were politically connected to Noem and her allies.”

The Democrats will also seek a probe of Noem’s statements in which she argued the department has been meeting federal standards for detention of detainees. The recommendation to the Justice Department will say, “ICE internal audits have documented significant failures to meet medical care standards.”

The Democrats recommendation is not expected to be well received – or acted upon - by Trump Administration officials at the U.S. Department of Justice. The agency is not bound by the recommendation to actual a launch a criminal probe.

Raskin, a former member of the House Select Committee on the January 6th attack, had previously joined that panel’s recommendation for a criminal prosecution of Trump in 2022, for conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, when the panel voted to make the referral.

Though the vote was largely symbolic, the Justice Department later appointed a Special Counsel to investigate Trump. The Special Counsel charged Trump with conspiracy in August 2023, in a case that was dropped after Trump won re-election.

In her Senate testimony, Noem argued that her agency had secured a series of accomplishments. She testified, “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and the hard work of the men and women of DHS, our department has delivered historic results and made our communities safer.”

Her opening testimony to the Senate committee did not specify the advertisement campaign, detention facility conditions or her agency’s adherence to court orders. The statements under scrutiny by the committee Democrats were made by Noem in response to questions from Senators, including those raised by Sen. Kennedy about the ads.

Within days of her Congressional testimony, Noem was re-assigned by Trump to serve as a special envoy, and moved out of her Cabinet position with the Department of Homeland Security. Trump has nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, to succeed Noem.

After Trump’s announcement, Noem said, “We have made historic accomplishments at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again: we delivered the most

secure border in American history, 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S., we have located 145,000 children, FEMA delivered disaster relief at a 100% faster rate, we ushered in the golden age of travel, saved the American taxpayer $13 billion and revitalized the U.S. Coast Guard.”