Noem says Secret Service arrested the person who stole her bag
Al Drago for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that the Secret Service caught the person who swiped her bag from a Washington restaurant on Easter Sunday while she was dining with her family.
“Thank you to @SecretService @ICE and our law enforcement partners for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday as I shared a meal with my family at a Washington DC restaurant,” Noem posted on X.
Authorities said a man wearing a mask took Noem’s bag, which contained $3,000, her DHS access card, passport, makeup bag, apartment key and other items.
Noem said in her post that the person arrested is “a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years.”
“Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and that’s why President Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets,” she said.
Later Sunday, the Secret Service said it had made two arrests in the case — one in Washington and one in Miami.
The Secret Service said the defendant arrested in D.C., who it didn’t identify, is a serial offender and said the theft “had no protective nexus to Secretary Noem or her role as Secretary of Homeland Security.” It also said its investigation revealed alleged potential device and credit card fraud and would maintain jurisdiction over the case.
The person arrested in Miami is believed to be a co-conspirator with the first person in a pattern of thefts and robberies in D.C. and is believed to be the primary defendant in stealing Noem’s bag, the Secret Service said. The person is being held on an immigration detainer and their name will be released when charges are finalized, the Secret Service said.
In an interview on Thursday, Noem said she thought the theft was “professionally done.”
“It was kind of shocking, actually, because it was sitting right by my feet, actually felt my purse, he hooked it with his foot and dragged it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it,” Noem said on “The Vince Show.”
Noem said she wasn’t sure if she was targeted because she was the DHS secretary. She said she felt something brush against her leg where the bag was at her feet, but thought it was one of her grandchildren.
“I think I was a busy grandma with four grandkids under the age of 4, and I was taking care of them and feeding them food and enjoying my family, yeah, but certainly had my purse even touching my feet,” she said.
A DHS official said the secretary had the cash with her because her family was in town and she was treating them to Easter festivities.
“Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren — she was using the cash withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts,” the official said.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — He was the first Democrat to call for impeachment during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House and now Rep. Al Green is believed to be he first lawmaker in modern history to be thrown out of a Joint Session of Congress or a State of the Union address, according to a presidential historian.
The 78-year-old Texas congressman was escorted out of the House Chamber at the Capitol Building Tuesday night by the House sergeant at arms after he stood and shook his cane at Trump, and refused to obey House Speaker Mike Johnson’s order to sit down and refrain from interrupting the president’s speech by shouting criticisms.
“I can’t think of another lawmaker being taken out. In modern history, I can say with some level of confidence that the answer is no,” said presidential historian Mark Updegrove, CEO of the President Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation.
In advance of Trump’s speech, members of the House Freedom Caucus called on the sergeant at arms to take action against any member of Congress who violated House rules during the address.
“The President’s address to tonight’s joint session of Congress is a constitutional obligation — not a sideshow for Democrats to use noisemakers, make threats, throw things or otherwise disrupt,” the Freedom Caucus said in a statement posted on social media. “Our colleagues are on notice that the heckler’s veto will not be tolerated. You will be censured. We expect the Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police to take appropriate action against any Members of Congress or other persons violating House rules.”
On Wednesday morning, the group of hardliners said they would censure Green, but moderate GOP Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington beat them to it. Newhouse formally introduced a measure on the House floor to censure Green, which is expected to be voted on Thursday.
Members of the Freedom Caucus include Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado.
During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speeches between 2022 and 2024, Boebert and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Georgia, heckled the former president. During Biden’s 2023 State of the Union speech, Greene stood and yelled “liar” multiple times at the former president, but was not escorted out of the House Chamber.
Updegrove, an ABC News contributor, noted that Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, yelled “You Lie” during former President Barack Obama’s 2009 address to a joint session of Congress on health care. At the time, the House of Representatives, with the Democrats holding the majority, voted to reprimand Wilson, who later issued an apology to Obama.
“The Joe Wilson episode was kind of the introduction of greater hostility in Congress, at least in modern times,” Updegrove said.
After lashing out at Trump, yelling, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid,” Green was removed from the chamber Tuesday night. He later told ABC News he’d welcome any consequences from his disruption, saying he was “following the wishes of conscience.”
“There are times when it is better to stand alone than not stand at all,” Green said.
Green doubled down on his protest of Trump’s speech on Wednesday, saying if given the chance, “I would do it again.”
“I am not angry with the speaker. I am not angry with the officers. I am not upset with the members who are going to bring the motions or resolutions to sanction. I will suffer the consequences,” Green told ABC News.
Green added, “What I did was from my heart. People are suffering. And I was talking about Medicaid. I didn’t just say you didn’t have a mandate. I said you don’t have a mandate to cut Medicaid.”
Green said he has not spoken to Democratic leadership about his Tuesday night outburst.
It’s not the first time that Green, who has represented Texas’ 9th congressional district since 2005, has been a thorn in Trump’s side.
In May 2017, Green presented the first articles of impeachment against Trump, citing the firing of FBI Director James Comey. In July 2019, he called for Trump’s impeachment again, citing the president’s attack on four Democratic congresswomen of color. The house voted to table Green’s resolution, effectively killing it.
And just last month, Green announced on the floor of Congress that he intends to again file articles of impeachment against Trump, citing the president’s suggestion that the United States take over the Gaza Strip.
“The movement to impeach the president has begun,” Green said on the House floor. “I rise to announce that I will bring articles of impeachment against the president for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done.”
In February 2024, Green, temporarily left his hospital bed in a wheelchair after undergoing intestinal surgery to vote against the Republican-led impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, then Biden’s secretary of Homeland Security, over his handling of a crisis at the southern border. The house ended up voting 214–216 not to impeach Mayorkas.
“I wanted to do all that I can because I know Secretary Mayorkas. He’s a good, decent man and I didn’t want to see his reputation tarnished,” Green said at the time.
Born and raised in New Orleans, Green moved to Houston, Texas, in the 1970s to attend the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, where he earned a law degree, according to a biography published on his website. He later founded and co-managed the law firm Green, Wilson, Dewberry, and Fitch.
Green also served as the Justice of the Peace for Harris County, Texas, for 26 years, retiring in 2004 to run for Congress. He also served for 10 years as president of the Houston branch of the NAACP.
During his tenure in Congress, Green has focused on fair housing and fair hiring practices for the poor and minorities. While in Congress, he has served on the House Financial Services Committee and the Committee on Homeland Security, and chaired the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee.
On his website, Green credits his family for teaching him “righteous resistance to overcome persistent injustice.”
(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday reacted to the revelation he discussed details about an imminent attack on Houthis in Yemen in March in a second Signal group chat — one that included his wife and brother.
Speaking to reporters at the White House Easter Egg Roll, which he attended with his family, Hegseth attacked those he said were “disgruntled” former employees and the media for what he said was “anonymous smears.”
“I have spoken with the president and we are going to continue fighting. On the same page all the way,” Hegseth said.
President Donald Trump defended Hegseth and said he still has “great confidence” in him as he took reporter questions at the White House celebration.
“Here we go again. Just a waste of time. He is doing a great job,” Trump said of Hegseth.
“Ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” the president added.
Sources told ABC News that Hegseth shared information about a forthcoming attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen in a Signal message chat that included his wife Jennifer, who does not work for the Defense Department, as well as his brother and his personal lawyer.
Hegseth did not explicitly deny the report as he was asked to respond to the reports on Monday.
“They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations. Not going to work with me, because we’re changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war fighters and anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn’t matter,” he said.
The second Signal chat reportedly occurred around the same time that top Trump officials, including Hegseth, discussed a strike on Houthis over the commercially-available app. That text chain came to light because inadvertently added to the chat was The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg. The Pentagon’s independent inspector general is currently reviewing Hegseth’s use of Signal to discuss military actions.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, pressed on the latest revelation on “Fox & Friends” on Monday, said “the president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth” and said Hegseth “is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon.”
The use of Signal to discuss sensitive military operations may complicate ongoing investigations into potential leaks involving the first known group chat, which included top aides and other members of Hegseth’s team — at least three of whom have been since fired in relation to the inquiry.
Those officials — Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick — have since spoken out against what they say are baseless accusations against them.
“At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with,” they said in a joint statement on X on April 19.
Leavitt, when responding to the Hegseth news on Monday, also sought to blame former employees as she defended the defense secretary.
“The administration and the president have taken a very strong stance against anyone who leaks, especially sensitive and classified information that can put our troops and our war fighters at risk,” Leavitt said on Fox. “And you’ve seen the secretary has taken very strong action to rein in the leakers at the Pentagon and he will continue to do so I’m sure.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats plan to target House Republicans in vulnerable districts by highlighting potential cuts to Medicaid and other federal spending in the budget blueprint GOP lawmakers hope to vote on this week, according to a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee memo first obtained by ABC News.
The memo titled “Medicaid Cuts Prove Politically Perilous for House Republicans” outlines a plan to paint GOP members in swing districts as voting for a “budget blueprint that would inflict massive pain upon American families.”
The budget blueprint sets a goal of at least $2 trillion dollars in cuts to mandatory federal spending, which includes funding for entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Medicaid, the health care program for low-income Americans and those with disabilities, is expected to face the brunt of the cuts. Some GOP members have discussed including new work requirements for the program and limiting how much the federal government pays each state.
Republican leadership has repeatedly promised not to cut other entitlement programs.
“Rather than delivering on their campaign promises to lower the high cost of living, [Republicans] are poised to pass an extreme budget scheme that would decimate affordable health care and take food off the tables of millions of American families,” the memo reads. “Republicans will find that a ‘yes’ vote doomed their reelection chances come November 2026.”
Vulnerable Republicans, several of whom represent swing districts with a significant number of constituents on Medicaid, have expressed serious concern that safety net programs could be on the chopping block.
“Slashing Medicaid would have serious consequences, particularly in rural and predominantly Hispanic communities where hospitals and nursing home are already struggling to keep their doors open,” Republican members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter last week.
GOP leadership has stressed to members that, while the budget blueprint calls for substantial cuts, specific cuts have yet to be determined. And Republican members have disputed their budget will have a negative impact on low-income families, pointing to policies like “No Tax on Tips,” a signature Trump campaign promise included in the budget plan.
The Democratic memo also notes House Republicans in safe red seats are already facing what it calls “massive political blowback” at town hall meetings back home, as angry voters speak out about potential funding cuts and thousands of recent firings by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“We are all fricking pissed off about this, you’re going to hear it,” a constituent said to Rep Rich McCormick, R-Ga., at a town hall last week.
Johnson told ABC News the protests were an “ambush” organized by Democratic advocacy groups.
“I think the American people largely applaud what’s happening. We need to get government cut back to its size and scope the way it should be and make sure people are doing their work,” he said.
