Noem faces grilling on Capitol Hill over ICE operations and Iran threat
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrives for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security,” in Dirksen building on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is facing two days of grilling on Capitol Hill as Democrats question her leadership of the Department of Homeland Security amid criticism of immigration enforcement operations and threats to the homeland after U.S. strikes against Iran.
Noem is testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday; she will testify before theHouse Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Her testimony comes as some parts of Noem’s agency — from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Transportation Security Administration to the Coast Guard — are shut down amid a funding fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Democrats have said they will fund the department only if changes are made to the agency in the wake of the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis involving federal law enforcement.
Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday that Noem will face “tough” questions after “stonewalling” Congress.
“Secretary Noem is the public face for an abominable anti-immigrant crusade. Her agents continue to wreak havoc on our cities and act with unspeakable cruelty against children, immigrant families, and American citizens,” Durbin said. “The American people are horrified by what they’re seeing, and Secretary Noem stonewalled Congress for months because she knew her conduct was egregious. She will be asked tough questions and held accountable for her reckless and deadly enforcement agenda.”
The secretary’s testimony is the first time she will be appearing before Congress after tensions in Minneapolis and the killing of Good and Pretti.
Saying she had another meeting to get to, Noem left midway through her last hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee in December under intense questioning from Democrats over ICE operations and tactics.
In the hours following the shooting of Pretti, a Minneapolis Veterans Affairs ICU nurse, Noem drew criticism for insinuating he wanted to “massacre” law enforcement before the evidence and investigation was complete. Pretti was licensed to carry a handgun. Video from multiple angles showed that Pretti did not try to draw his gun from his waistband before or during the scuffle with federal agents.
Two Senate Republicans have said Noem should be out of a job, and Democrats have called for her impeachment.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he stands by Noem.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard attends an event where President Donald Trump delivered an announcement on his Homeland Security Task Force in the State Dinning Room of the White House on October 23, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGOTN) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard returns to Capitol Hill this week for an annual set of hearings on worldwide threats — her most significant public appearance in months and her clearest opportunity yet to address the intelligence picture surrounding the war in Iran.
Lawmakers are expected to press Gabbard on the administration’s handling of the Iran conflict, homeland security concerns, election integrity and the broader global threat environment at a moment of rising tension.
The hearings will also offer a rare extended look at an intelligence chief who has spent much of the past year largely out of public view. The Senate Intelligence Committee is scheduled to hear from her on Wednesday, March 18, with the House hearing set for Thursday, March 19.
She heads into the hearings under fresh scrutiny after the resignation of Joe Kent, the administration’s top counterterrorism official, who stepped down Tuesday over his objections to the Iran war — the highest-profile administration official to resign publicly over the conflict.
An ODNI official told ABC News that Gabbard was not asked by the White House to fire Kent, pushing back on a report first aired by Fox News.
Kent’s resignation sharpened questions already hanging over the administration’s case for war — whether Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States.
In his resignation letter, Kent said he could not “in good conscience” support the war and argued that Iran posed “no imminent threat” to the nation, directly undercutting President Donald Trump’s repeated public justification for the conflict.
Trump has previously said Tehran posed an imminent threat and was “very nearly” in a position to strike.
Hours after Kent’s resignation became public, Gabbard moved to publicly back Trump’s authority to make that call.
In a post on X, she said the president, as commander in chief, is responsible for determining “what is and is not an imminent threat” and whether action is necessary to protect U.S. troops, the American people and the country.
She added that ODNI’s role is to coordinate and integrate intelligence, so the president has the best information available to inform his decisions, and said Trump had concluded Iran posed an imminent threat after reviewing the available intelligence.
She did not directly address Kent’s allegations or mention him by name.
The moment is especially striking for Gabbard because few figures in Trump’s orbit spent more time warning about regime change wars, intelligence failures and the cost of Washington interventionism.
As a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, she was so vocal in her opposition to war with Iran that she sold “No War With Iran” T-shirts.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News last year, she again spoke about diplomacy, military restraint and the human cost of conflict in terms that reflected a worldview she has carried for years.
In that interview, Gabbard said the stress of her first deployment in her mid-20s turned part of her hair white, and that she kept the streak as a reminder of the high human cost of war.
“War must always be the last resort, only after all measures of diplomacy have been completely exhausted,” she told ABC News in the interview.
This week’s hearings will also unfold against the backdrop of Gabbard’s broader and unusually quiet tenure. Before taking office, she was rarely far from public view, frequently appearing on television, podcasts and social media.
As DNI, that version of her has largely faded from public view.
In recent months, she has appeared mostly in glimpses, at major administration moments.
Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and the first person in U.S. history to serve as DNI while in military uniform, appeared in uniform at Dover Air Force Base earlier this month during the dignified transfer of six American soldiers killed in a drone strike in Kuwait in the opening hours of the war with Iran.
She also heads into the hearing with other controversies still hanging over her.
Gabbard has drawn scrutiny for her role in the administration’s election integrity push, including her appearance outside the FBI’s operation in Fulton County, Georgia, in January, where federal agents seized election materials tied to the 2020 election, and her subsequent acknowledgment that she arranged a call between President Donald Trump and the agents involved. She has also faced continuing questions about her investigations into election security in Puerto Rico and Arizona.
ABC News previously reported that Gabbard arranged a call between Trump and FBI agents involved in the seizure of election materials in Fulton County, an unusual move given the sensitivity of the investigation. In Arizona, a senior administration official told ABC News that Gabbard was not on the ground but was still “working across the agency to ensure election integrity.”
The hearing is shaping up as more than a routine annual threat assessment.
It will be the clearest public test yet of how Gabbard explains the role she has carved out inside the Trump administration, and how she reconciles the anti-war politics that helped define her rise with the office she now holds at the center of a war she is being asked to defend.
Sen. David McCormick leaves the Senate Republicans’ lunch meeting in the Capitol, Nov. 19, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Congressional Republicans appeared split Monday in their responses to the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday — from calling for an investigation to remaining silent or backing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has not issued a statement on the shooting and his office has not responded to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune issued a statement on Monday that did not directly address the shooting but applauded the White House dispatching border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota in hopes of “turning down the temperature,” while encouraging Minnesota officials to work with the Trump administration in getting “dangerous criminals off America’s streets.”
More than two dozen congressional Republicans have called for a thorough investigation, according to ABC News’ count.
At least eight GOP senators said they support an investigation into the shooting, including Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick — a Trump ally.
“As I have often said, I support the Border Patrol, ICE, and the critical work they do to enforce our laws. Irresponsible rhetoric and a lack of cooperation from Minnesota’s politicians are fueling a dangerous situation. I also agree with the NRA and others — we need a full investigation into the tragedy in Minneapolis. We need all the facts,” McCormick said in a post on X.
Moderate Senate Republican Lisa Murkowski urging, in a post on X, that a “comprehensive, independent investigation of the shooting must be conducted in order to rebuild trust and Congressional committees need to hold hearings and do their oversight work. ICE agents do not have carte blanche in carrying out their duties.”
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy called for a joint state and federal investigation into the shooting — warning “the credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake.”
While he did not call for an investigation, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz criticized the administration’s rhetoric on the shooting.
“What I think the administration could do better is the tone with which they’re describing this — that immediately when an incident like this happens, they come out guns blazing that we took out a violent terrorist, hooray,” Cruz said on his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz” on Monday.
More than a dozen House GOP lawmakers echoed similar sentiments, including House Homeland Security Chairman Andrew Garbarino, who expects a “full investigation” into the shooting.
“CBP and ICE have already been invited, and I expect each to testify before the Committee in the coming weeks. It is critical that Congress conduct its due diligence to ensure the safety of law enforcement officers and the communities they protect. I take my oversight duties of the Department of Homeland Security seriously, and we expect recent events to be thoroughly discussed at our hearing,” Garbarino said in a statement.
Moderate New York Rep. Mike Lawler called for an independent investigation into the shooting but said calls to “abolish” ICE are “misguided.”
“Let this be a moment for Americans of common sense and good will to come together and work towards a solution,” he said.
Despite this, several Republicans have also rushed to the Trump administration’s defense.
“The governor and local leaders’ rhetoric has empowered criminals and put federal law enforcement’s lives at risk. It’s dangerous and has made the situation in Minneapolis much worse. Unlike my Democrat colleagues, I’m going to let law enforcement conduct their investigation and not jump to asinine conclusions. We are grateful no Border Patrol officers were harmed,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said in a statement.
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona urged Americans to “stop interfering with federal enforcement officers.”
Responding to Trump’s social media post that called for deporting “criminal illegal aliens,” Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee said, “We cannot back down. Trump is right: ICE will continue to enforce the law in Minnesota. Deport them all.”
Jeffrey Epstein abuse survivors stand in the audience as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on February 11, 2026 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Several Democrats have invited survivors of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, while others plan to skip the event altogether in protest.
Roughly half a dozen Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have ensured survivors of Epstein’s abuse will be seated in the House chamber for Trump’s high-profile speech.
Trump and the Justice Department have been dogged by questions about the Epstein files and their partial release and redactions. Some survivors have criticized the process and called for full release of the files, which are precipitating global fallout. The DOJ said it has complied with the law.
Reps. Jamie Raskin and Suhas Subramanyam announced Sky and Amanda Roberts as their guests, the brother and sister-in-law, respectively, of the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
Rep. Ro Khanna, who co-authored the Epstein Transparency Act that forced the DOJ to release millions of files related to Epstein, has invited survivor Haley Robson.
Some House Democrats plan to wear pins in support of Epstein survivors that call for all the files to be released.
The members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus who are attending the speech said they plan to wear white “to honor the suffragists who believed a women’s vote could change the country and their vision for that change.”
Meanwhile, dozens of Democrats are poised to skip the address in the House chamber, many instead attending a counter-program on the National Mall sponsored by the prominent progressive group MoveOn.
Dubbed the “People’s State of the Union,” MoveOn said the 8 p.m. ET counter-program will feature Democrats, organization members and “everyday Americans most impacted by Trump’s chaos.”
At least 45 House and Senate Democrats in total are planning to skip Trump’s address, according to a count by ABC News.
Republicans this fall will look to defend their narrow majorities in the House and Senate in what is historically a cycle that favors the minority party.
Jeffries, who has said “you don’t let anyone ever run you off of your block,” has made the case for his caucus to show its presence on Tuesday night without any outbursts after Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas was ejected and ultimately censured for shaking his cane and shouting at Trump during last year’s joint address.
“The two options that are in front of us in our House [are] to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion, which will include participation in a variety of different alternate programming that is going to take place in and around the Capitol complex,” Jeffries told reporters last week.
Spanberger flipped control of the governor’s mansion from red to blue in 2025 after primarily campaigning on the issue of affordability.
“We are at a defining moment in our nation’s history. Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring,” Spanberger said in a statement, adding she looked forward to “laying out what these Americans expect and deserve — leaders who are working hard to deliver for them.”
California Sen. Alex Padilla will deliver the Democratic Party’s Spanish-language response.
