
Kristi Noem's ouster isn't enough. Democrats say they want her to pay.
NBC News
Kristi Noem may be out at the top of the Department of Homeland Security, but Democrats are still demanding a “reckoning.”
WASHINGTON — Kristi Noem may be out at the top of the Department of Homeland Security, but Democrats are still demanding a “reckoning.”
Democrats met news of Noem’s ouster Thursday with a cascade of calls for accountability. They ranged from a potential probe into the legality of contracts cut during her tenure to a perjury investigation after her congressional testimony to even a push for impeachment to keep her from holding public office in the future.
Democrats vowed to probe Noem’s time as homeland security secretary if they took back power in the November midterm elections, while at least two congressional candidates called for a future criminal prosecution.
“We need a reckoning with the fact that there were murders that took place under her watch. There was mass violence and violation of people’s civil rights and civil liberties. There’s been intense corruption, and there’s been rampant lying in the courts and disobeying of court orders,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who will be chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee if Democrats win this fall, said in an interview Thursday. His panel has oversight of federal immigration enforcement.
“We need to have a cleaning of house at the Department of Homeland Security,” he added, “and a repudiation of all of these terrible policies of corruption, cover-up, lying and authoritarian violence against citizens and immigrants.”

The Trump-appointed board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted unanimously Monday to shutter the arts mecca for two years for renovations.“Major renovations are required to keep the facility functional, and that will start right after July 4,” the center's vice president of public relations, Roma Daravi, said in a statement.“This project will transform the Center into a world-class destination worthy of the nation’s legacy and future — a landmark where every American is welcome to experience artistic excellence and premiere entertainment,” Daravi said












