A bombshell letter from a top government watchdog is raising serious questions about whether the Department of Homeland Security obstructed oversight during a critical investigation tied to the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump.
Just days before Kristi Noem was removed from her position, Trump-appointed Inspector General Joseph Cuffari sent a sharply worded letter to Congress accusing DHS leadership of “systematically obstructing” his office’s investigations. According to Cuffari, officials repeatedly blocked access to key information tied to probes involving the department, including one examining the Secret Service’s failures surrounding the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
At the center of the dispute is a highly compartmentalized intelligence program that Cuffari’s office says it needed in order to determine what went wrong that day. Despite authorization from the data owner, the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis allegedly refused to grant the inspector general’s team access.
Just days before Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the Trump-appointed DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari… pic.twitter.com/MZC2Rq0aA6
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) March 5, 2026
“I&A refuses to conduct the purely ministerial act of indoctrinating OIG personnel into a compartmented program,” Cuffari wrote in the letter while outlining what he described as “instances of unreasonable denial.”
According to the watchdog, that refusal directly hindered an ongoing review into the Butler assassination attempt.
“I&A’s intransigence is impeding an OIG review related to the July 13, 2024, attempt to assassinate then-former President Donald Trump,” Cuffari wrote. He added that the situation is especially alarming given other reported threats against Trump and the increasingly unstable global environment.
The letter details 11 separate incidents where the inspector general claims his office was denied access to records or databases necessary for investigations and audits. One particularly troubling example involved a request for access to a DHS-controlled database tied to a criminal investigation with national security implications. Cuffari said the department’s refusal to cooperate risked undermining both the investigation and any potential prosecution that could result from it.
Should the DHS Inspector General have unrestricted access to all investigation-related materials?Just days before Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the Trump-appointed DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari… pic.twitter.com/MZC2Rq0aA6
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) March 5, 2026
“The department’s approach would risk compromising the investigation and needlessly complicate it,” he warned.
While DHS does have the authority to deny access to certain materials involving national security or counterintelligence, reports indicate that officials blocked access in these cases without formally invoking that authority.
Kristi Noem, who faced intense scrutiny during a recent Senate hearing, pushed back on the accusations. She insisted that the inspector general was not blocked from oversight but instead failed to follow proper procedures for requesting classified information.
“He can have access to anything at the Department of Homeland Security; he can,” Noem testified. “He just needs to provide a scoping memo.”
But the controversy surrounding the letter came as Noem was already under heavy political pressure. Reports indicate that President Trump was unhappy with her Senate testimony, particularly after he publicly contradicted a claim she made under oath regarding a controversial $220 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign that prominently featured her.
Sources also pointed to a tense confrontation involving protesters in Minnesota and what critics described as Noem’s impulsive response as another factor that may have sealed her fate.
By the time the dust settled, her tenure at DHS had become defined by controversy, mounting criticism, and a string of damaging headlines. As observers noted, the former secretary’s downfall appeared less like a sudden collapse and more like the culmination of a series of political and administrative missteps that ultimately made her position untenable.
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