Fired DHS chief Kristi Noem faces criminal referral from congressional Democrats

By Fox News · Fox News

Congressional Democrats are seeking criminal charges against Kristi Noem weeks after President Donald Trump ousted her from leadership of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the top Democrats on their respective chambers’ Judiciary Committees, sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday accusing Noem of lying to Congress during back-to-back hearings earlier this month. "A number of her statements appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress," the letter said. "After months of evading our Committees’ requests to testify in routine oversight hearings, Secretary Noem made a series of demonstrably false statements in a brazen attempt to undermine critical congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security." The top Democrats on the Senate and House Judiciary committees charged that there were four categories of statements Noem made during her testimony before the respective panels where the DHS chief could have perjured herself. DHS DEFENDS MCLAUGHLIN AFTER ALLEGATIONS HUSBAND'S COMPANY PROFITED MILLIONS FROM AD CONTRACTS: 'BASELESS' Among those answers the lawmakers scrutinized were whether DHS follows court orders, Corey Lewandowski’s role in DHS contracts, whether immigration enforcement has detained U.S. citizens, and most notably the contracting process for a $220 million ad campaign heavily featuring Noem. The ad campaign, in particular, was an explosive moment during Noem’s hearing earlier this month when Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressed her on whether there was a competitive bid process for the contracts and the substantial cash flow. Noem told the panel that the contract did go through a competitive process, "and career officials at the Department chose who would do those advertising commercials." When asked if President Donald Trump knew about the ad campaign and its eye-popping sum, Noem said he did. CAPITOL…