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.
US President Donald Trump arrives for a medal of honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 2, 2026. President Trump is awarding the Medal of Honor to three US Army soldiers. (Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said it’s “too late” for talks with Iran and warned the U.S. has enough munitions to fight “forever.”
“Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone,” Trump wrote of Iran in a post to his social media platform. “They want to talk. I said ‘Too Late!'”
The comments come as the administration’s war with Iran enters its fourth day and as questions remain on why the urgent military action was necessary and how long it will last.
Trump could face those questions and others from reporters when he hosts German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at 11:15 a.m. ET.
The president has not given a formal address to the nation on the attacks on Iran, instead posting video statements to social media or speaking to individual reporters at various news outlets.
Overnight, apparently responding to questions raised about stockpiles of U.S. weapons being used to intercept Iranian missiles and drones, Trump posted that the U.S. has a “virtually unlimited” supply.
“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” Trump wrote in a social media post, despite having said on Monday that the U.S. would “easily prevail” in the conflict and campaigning in opposition to “forever wars.”
Trump, though, did acknowledge in the post that the stockpile of some of the country’s highest-grade munitions is “not where we want it to be” and blamed that on U.S. support for Ukraine in fighting Russia’s invasion.
Still, Trump concluded the post by stating: “The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!”
Trump’s social media post on Tuesday that it’s “too late” for talks with Iran comes just days after he told The Atlantic: “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them.”
Plus, mixed messages have come from the administration on Iran’s future. Trump over the weekend encouraged Iranians to rise up and topple the government, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday rebuffed the idea that regime change was the U.S. objective for striking Tehran.
Meanwhile, the war is widening in the Middle East as Iran seeks retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli attacks, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior leaders. Tehran’s struck more nearly a dozen countries, and the State Department has warned U.S. citizens to leave the region and closed several embassies.
So far, six U.S. service members have died in the war and more have been wounded. Trump, in an interview with NewsNation, teased retaliation for the killing of American troops.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow and Meghan Mistry contributed to this report.
House Speaker Mike Johnson faces an incredibly tight margin as he can only afford to lose one Republican vote if all members are present and voting on the funding package.
First, Johnson has to clear a procedural vote before debate can begin on the floor and a vote on final passage can be held.
Johnson told reporters on Tuesday that he is confident the package, passed in the Senate after an 11th-hour deal between Senate Democrats and the White House, will pass.
“This may be hard for some of y’all to believe, but I never doubted this,” Johnson said at his weekly news conference Tuesday morning.
The agreement separates a Department of Homeland Security funding bill from five others funding other agencies for the rest of the fiscal year, and grants two weeks of extended DHS funding to negotiate Democratic demands for restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid its immigration enforcement operation, including requiring agents to wear body cameras turned on and to not wear masks.
The funding fight over DHS erupted in the aftermath of the death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, who was killed in a shooting involving federal law enforcement in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Johnson over the weekend that Democrats would not help Republicans expedite the funding package.
Meanwhile, hard-line Republicans also threatened to hold the package up in hopes of attaching an unrelated bill that would require a proof of citizenship in federal elections known as the SAVE Act. Though some hard-liners, including Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Tim Burchett, appear to be backing down on their demands.
President Donald Trump said Monday that he has spoken to congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle and expressed confidence in a resolution coming soon.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Thursday called several Democratic veterans and national security specialists “traitors” who should face the death penalty for releasing a joint video where they said that U.S. service members could refuse illegal orders — a move that has prompted some lawmakers to call the president’s rhetoric “dangerous” and “a threat.”
“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???,” Trump wrote on social media Thursday morning.
Trump also reshared a social media post responding to the Washington Examiner’s article about the Democrats, calling for them to be hanged.
In another post, the president said “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
In the video directed at military members, Democrats — including Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly — said that military service members can refuse illegal orders.
“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” the congressional Democrats said in the video posted Tuesday.
“The threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from aboard, but from right here right at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders,” the group continued. “No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”
None of the Democrats mentioned any specific illegal orders given to service members. It’s not clear whether service members have been asked to break the law.
ABC News has asked these lawmakers to clarify the orders in question.
The language in the video is similar to what is said in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which states that service members are required to follow lawful orders, but can be prosecuted for following unlawful orders.
The Democrats who appeared in the video released a joint statement Thursday following Trump’s comments.
“What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law. Our servicemembers should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty,” the Democrats said in the statement.
“But this isn’t about any one of us. This isn’t about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.”
Asked if Trump wants to execute members of Congress, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president did not — adding that the Democrats in the video are “encouraging [service members] to defy the president’s lawful orders.”
“Let’s be clear about what the president is responding to, because many in this room want to talk about the president’s response but not what brought the president to responding in this way. You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military to active-duty service members, to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president’s lawful orders,” Leavitt said during Thursday’s press briefing.
While the president has suggested this behavior by Democrats may be punishable by death, Leavitt said it may be “punishable by law.” She said the Democrats “knew exactly what they were doing” with their message.
“To signal to people serving under this commander in chief, Donald Trump, that you can defy him and you can betray your oath of office, that is a very, very dangerous message. And it perhaps is punishable by law. I’m not a lawyer. I’ll leave that to the Department of Justice and the Department of War to decide.”
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s rhetoric in his social media posts “makes political violence more likely” and called for Trump to be condemned for his posts.
“Let’s be crystal clear, the president of the United States is calling for the execution of elected officials. This is a threat, and it’s deadly serious,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday. “We have already seen what happens when Donald Trump tells his followers that his political opponents are enemies of the state. Every time Donald Trump posts things like this, he makes political violence more likely.”
Schumer said Trump’s rhetoric could be dangerous in a political contentious environment.
“He is lighting a match in a country soaked with political gasoline, every senator, every representative, every American, regardless of party, should condemn this immediately, without qualification, because if we don’t draw a line here, there is no line left to draw,” Schumer said.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul also said rhetoric like this could be dangerous.
“I don’t think it’s a really — a good idea to talk about jailing your political opponents or hanging them or whatever else. I think we have political disagreements and we need to work them out in a political way,” Paul said.
Paul warned the rhetoric in Trump’s posts could inspire violence.
“That kind of rhetoric isn’t good and it stirs up people among us who may not be stable who may think well ‘traitors,’ what do we do with traitors? It’s the death penalty. Maybe I’ll just take matters into my own hands, which is not something we should be encouraging,” Paul said.
House Democratic leaders on Thursday issued a joint statement condemning Trump’s posts on social media, calling on him to delete them “before he gets someone killed.”
“We unequivocally condemn Donald Trump’s disgusting and dangerous death threats against Members of Congress and call on House Republicans to forcefully do the same,” said the statement signed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar.
House Speaker Mike Johnson downplayed Trump’s social media comments, telling reporters Thursday that the president did not make a call to incite violence.
“He’s defining a crime,” Johnson said. “He, I’m sure, acknowledges that the attorneys have to figure all that out.”
A reporter pressed the speaker that Trump’s statement contended it was punishable by death.
“What I read was he was defining the crime of sedition,” Johnson said. “That is a factual statement. But obviously attorneys have to parse the language and determine all that.”
Johnson criticized the Democrats involved in the video, calling it a “wildly inappropriate thing for so-called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders.”
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Marine combat veteran, slammed Trump’s comments, telling ABC News that the president “doesn’t understand the military.”
“He thinks the military is one of his personal little play toys,” said Gallego, who was not in the Democrats’ video. “He, for some reason, thinks that men and women upholding their oath is a contradiction to him as commander in chief — which, again, tells you he doesn’t really understand his role.”
ABC News’ Mary Bruce, Michelle Stoddart, Justin Gomez, Anne Flaherty, Devin Dwyer, Isabella Murray and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
