Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy confronted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem during a Tuesday hearing on blaming White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller for accusing Alex Pretti of “domestic terrorism.”
Noem received backlash for stating that Pretti, an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protester fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent, committed “an act of domestic terrorism” and sought to “massacre” agents. During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Noem denied ever having blamed Miller for her words.
“What got my attention was that you blamed those statements on Mr. Stephen Miller at the White House. Did you not?” Kennedy said.Â
“No, sir, I did not. And in fact, where you’re seeing that is in a news article of anonymous sources and anonymous sources say a lot of things. But I’ve never said that at all,” Noem said.Â
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Kennedy cited an Axios report which quoted Noem saying, “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen.” The quote was cited by anonymous sources who allegedly “relayed her remarks” to the outlet.
“Well, here’s what you said on the record. I’m going to read you your words, quote, ‘everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen’ … You said it on the record on January 27th of 2026,” Kennedy said.Â
“I enjoy working with the president and with Stephen Miller. And that day we were working to get as much information to the American people as possible,” Noem replied. “That is what we’ll continue to do.”Â
“Do you think it was fair to blame Mr. Miller?” Kennedy asked.
Noem continued to deny ever blaming Miller for her response to the incident.
Some officials in the administration blamed Miller for pushing inaccurate information about Pretti, Axios reported in January. Miller told Axios that any information the White House received about the incident was given to them by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Noem stated on Jan. 29 that she provided some wrong information regarding Pretti’s death, stating that she was relaying information she received from CBP because it was “the best information [they] had at the time.” She previously stated that Pretti “violently resisted” officers as they attempted to disarm him, though police confirmed that Pretti legally carried his firearm.
In a statement on X, Miller called Pretti an “assassin,” which was reportedly based on information he received from CBP at the time.
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