DHS Secretary Noem’s second Capitol Hill grilling this week

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday appeared before the House Judiciary Committee for nearly seven hours, her second straight day of grilling by lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

She had an easier day than on Tuesday when the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Republican Thom Tillis of North Carolina, criticized her job performance and Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the killings of two people during an immigration crackdown in Minnesota were unacceptable. The House Republican caucus is generally in a tighter lockstep with President Donald Trump than their counterparts in the Senate.

Here are five takeaways from Noem’s day before the House Judiciary panel:

Noem did not take the opportunity to apologize for her comments that characterized two Americans shot and killed by federal immigration agents as domestic terrorists.

Asked by the panel’s ranking member, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., if she would like to apologize for her comments, Noem offered condolences to the families of those shot but skipped apologizing for her comments.

“My heart is with them and we will continue to stand with them as they get a complete investigation into these situations,” Noem said.

Noem said in the immediate aftermath of both the shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good that they were engaged in acts of “domestic terrorism.” Subsequent videos of the shootings contradicted those claims.

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove asked Noem whether she has ever had “sexual relations” with her top advisor, Corey Lewandowski, during her tenure atop DHS.

Noem ripped the question as “tabloid garbage” but did not say affirmatively under oath that she has never had sexual relations with Lewandowski. The pair have both publicly denied an affair, as has been reported in several media outlets.

“I am shocked that we’re going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today,” Noem said. “He is a special government employee who works for the White House; there are thousands of them in the federal government.”

“It is offensive that you have brought that up. That kind of garbage has been refuted for years,” Noem said.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., offered Noem another opportunity to say “no” to whether the affair has happened.

“This has been something that I’ve refuted for years, and I continue to do that,” Noem said. “This is what you do, the socialist liberal left, is you go off and you attack conservative women and you say that we’re either stupid or we’re sluts.”

Unlike on Monday, when Noem was ripped by Tillis for what he said was a “disaster” at DHS under her watch, Republicans in the House were relatively light touch with their criticism of Noem.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., implored Noem to hew closely to the Fourth Amendment, which requires a judicial warrant to enter a private residence. Democrats have called for a requirement of judicial warrants for any immigration arrest.

“I think for entering a residence or a private property, it would be helpful to have judicial warrants,” Massie said.

Noem was also peppered by Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., over grants for wildfire damage prevention from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“It’s just been waiting for your signature, which I understand is a new requirement that anything over $100,000 needs the secretary’s approval,” Kiley said. “Do you have any idea why it is we can’t get movement on this?”

Noem said if the grant has been held up, it was by FEMA, which is a sub-agency of DHS, not her. She also said she does not “have a requirement that I sign off on grants of $100,000, I do have a requirement on reviewing contracts.”

The hearing with Noem dragged on for close to seven hours, with some breaks.

Lawmakers typically use the appearance of cabinet secretaries before committees to burnish their fundraising and seek viral moments in questioning.

That makes it more likely that all lawmakers will want to use their five minutes to question a secretary like Noem, who has been under fire for her execution of the president’s immigration agenda.

Noem’s testimony came during a shutdown at DHS as Democrats demand changes to the way Trump carries out his immigration agenda. Some employees would miss a paycheck next week if the shutdown continues.

The shutdown is also coinciding with a war in Iran, which has increased security threats in the U.S.

Noem lamented that the agency is shut down while the war is going on.

“The men and women at the department continue to get up and to do their jobs if they aren’t furloughed by the lack of funding,” Noem said. “It would be great to have them … as far as preparing for any kind of attack we may face.”