Durbin and Raskin call for perjury investigation into Kristi Noem

The top Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary committees are calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether departing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lied under oath before Congress.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the ranking member on the Senate panel, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House committee, sent a referral to Bondi on Monday saying Noem may have violated statues prohibiting perjury and making false statements to Congress when she appeared before their committees on March 3 and March 4.

“A number of her statements appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress,” the lawmakers wrote, focusing on her remarks that the department hadn’t violated court orders related to its immigration enforcement.

President Donald Trump fired Noem earlier this month after her testimony and tapped Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to replace her. Mullin will need to be confirmed by his Senate colleagues before taking over DHS and will appear before the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

“Any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury are categorically FALSE,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said via email on Monday.

A DOJ spokesperson said in an email Monday that the agency “has received the latest political stunt from the Democrats who should instead vote to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.”

According to Durbin and Raskin, Noem falsely claimed on multiple occasions that DHS had not violated any court orders.

“Those statements were false. DHS has repeatedly defied court orders to release individuals from ICE detention and has even failed to release individuals for days or weeks after a court-ordered date,” they wrote.

They also said she made false claims about the bidding process for a DHS contract on a $220 million television ad campaign, about the detention of U.S. citizens and detention conditions.

Members of Congress and committees can make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice outlining evidence of alleged crimes. But such communications don’t compel the DOJ to investigate.

“While we have low expectations that you will pursue this matter given your partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice, we note that the statute of limitations for perjury and for knowingly and willfully making false statements to Congress is five years,” the lawmakers wrote.