Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers on Wednesday that she is living in a Coast Guard residence as a security precaution — and said she’s paying the government to rent the home.
She refuted reports that she had taken over the Coast Guard commandant’s home, saying he still has his house and she’s living in another home.
“I rent that facility. I rent where I stay and pay personal dollars to do that,” Ms. Noem told the House Judiciary Committee.
Ms. Noem’s living situation has been part of a wave of Democratic criticism of the high-profile secretary.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, kicked off the hearing with the charge that Ms. Noem was “living rent-free in the official waterfront residence reserved for the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.”
He accused her of spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars to buy or lease jets for official travel — including a 737 with a plush bedroom and lounge area.
Ms. Noem had said that the plane was being “refurbished” to serve as a deportation jet, but Mr. Raskin said that rang hollow.
“Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to buy a deportation plane in the first place? It’s like buying a Rolls-Royce to turn into a Metrobus?” he said.
He also chided her for an incident reported in the media where Corey Lewandowski, a special government employee who has been working closely with Ms. Noem, ordered a Coast Guard pilot to turn a plane around. Mr. Raskin said the problem was that Ms. Noem had left behind “your special blanket, your blankie” on one of the planes.
Ms. Noem denied that the pilot was fired.
“Not that I’m aware of,” she said, calling the media report “not accurate.”
“I was surprised that The Wall Street Journal would print that many inaccuracies in one article,” she said.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat who had been grilling her on the matter, countered that the “Wall Street Journal is not a liberal newspaper of record.”
“I don’t know what it is anymore,” Ms. Noem retorted.
Ms. Noem said this week that as a special government employee, Mr. Lewandowski works for the White House.
/During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, several Democrats suggested Mr. Lewandowski may have benefited from a $220 million public relations contract that paid for ads to run in the U.S. and abroad, urging illegal immigrants to self-deport.
Ms. Noem told Sen. Peter Welch, Vermont Democrat, she would get to the bottom of that.
“I can do that,” she said.
Ms. Noem’s husband, Byron Noem, was sitting in the row of seats behind Ms. Noem on Wednesday. He was also present for her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee a day earlier.
Ms. Noem is the subject of a Democrat-led impeachment resolution. It accuses her of obstruction of Congress, violation of public trust and “self-dealing.”
That portion cites the advertising contract.
That impeachment resolution has nearly 190 sponsors, suggesting it could see action if Democrats win control of the House in November.
