Luxe jets, blankies, Lewandowski: Noem’s Day 2 hearing left little to imagination

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem strongly defended her department’s immigration enforcement policies before Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday; this was part of the heated and contentious House Oversight Committee, which at times became deeply personal.

The hearing is the second in a series of back-to-back DHS oversight hearings focusing on the agency’s actions on immigration enforcement and Noem’s leadership at the department, and comes as members of Congress remain deadlocked on how exactly to fund the sprawling federal agency.

Here are the most important moments from the action-packed hearing.

Democrats welcome Lewandowski, “blankets” and luxury jets

Some Democrats on the panel focused on Corey Lewandowski’s responsibilities as special counsel to the Department of Homeland Security. Rep. Sydney Kalmager-Dove, Calif., quoted in the Wall Street Journal last month’s reportTrump allegedly rejected Lewandowski’s request to become Noem’s chief of staff “due to reports of a romantic relationship between the two.”

Both Noem and Lewandowski denied reports of an affair.

Kalmager-Dove openly questioned Noem about the nature of their relationship. “This individual has no experience running anything close to the Department of Homeland Security or even advising someone in your position,” Kalmager-Dove said, noting that his duties as a special government employee extend “well beyond the 130-day period allowed.”

“He is unqualified, which has left my constituents wondering why he is your top official,” he added.
“So, Secretary Noem, did you have sexual intercourse with Corey Lewandowski at any time during your tenure as Director of the Department of Homeland Security?”

Noem briefly addressed House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan before responding. “Mr. Chairman, I’m shocked that we went to this committee today and sold tabloid garbage,” he said.

He told Kalmager-Dove: “Ma’am, all I will tell you is that he is a special government employee working for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government.”

Corey Lewandowski appears before a House Intelligence Committee hearing. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

Raskin says Noem ‘flying too close to the sun’

The panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., pressed Noem for details about Lewandowski’s role at DHS, though in the context of the issue of DHS’s use of so-called “luxury jets.” Noem defended the use of jets in her testimony in the Senate the day before, stating that jets were used for both administrative travel and mass deportations.

Raskin said Wednesday that he was almost ready to buy the story. “And then I heard a sense of entitlement, arrogance, and contempt in the air that I couldn’t believe.”

“Apparently, when your special blanket – your blanket – was left on one of the government jets and was not carried to a new one, your special government employee, the brave Corey Lewandowski, stepped forward to shoot the pilot in the air,” Raskin said.

“He was a 2003 Coast Guard Academy graduate and a distinguished U.S. Coast Guard Commandant… [who then] We had to be rehired immediately because there was no one else who could fly you two for the rest of the trip home,” Raskin said. “Secretary Noem, you’re flying high right now, maybe even a little too close to the sun.”

The proceedings were tense, largely due to the presence of Noem’s husband, who sat in the gallery throughout the hearing.

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DHS Secretary Kristi Noem testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Getty Images)

Swalwell and Noem showdown

Later in the hearing, D-Calif. Her representative, Eric Swalwell, confronted Noem about the case of Miguel Lopez, an immigrant who lived in the U.S. illegally for nearly 30 years before being deported last year. Lopez is married to a US resident. “I went to Mexico and saw Miguel,” Swalwell told Noem. “He doesn’t have a job… and it’s hard for him to communicate” after being away from his home country for nearly three decades.

Noemi interjected: “Did he have a criminal record?”

Swalwell acknowledged that Lopez pleaded guilty to a “less violent charge” in 1995, but asked Noem to recognize the “pain” caused by the administration’s broader deportation policy.

“Pain?” Noem replied. “And I wish people would do everything right. If they don’t have legal status in this country, they can go home. We’ll pay them to go home.”

“I hope he got the $2,600 he could get,” Miguel said, choosing to deport himself.

Federal agents forcibly detain an anti-ICE protester outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Oregon, on October 12, 2025. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty)

‘The Worst of the Worst’

The harshest exchange occurred when Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., pressed Noem about the Trump administration’s repeated promise to target the “worst of the worst” criminals in removal efforts.

“Tell me the worst of the worst,” Cohen said.

Noem fired back: “The worst of the worst. I think you offended the families behind me with that today.”

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, left, and White House border czar Tom Homan speak with reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Cohen said he did not intend to offend anyone and said it was wrong for Noem to suggest she did such a thing. But Noem defended her view, arguing that critics were underestimating the consequences of illegal immigration.

“I was commenting on the fact that these individuals are not violent criminals, and you are talking about the fact that these individuals who are in this country illegally are not harming families,” he said.

Cohen noted that undocumented immigrants are statistically “less likely” to commit crimes than people born in the United States.

Noem then pointed to family members sitting behind her, recalling stories of children lost to fentanyl overdoses and fatal car crashes involving unlicensed drivers.

“The vast majority of these people behind me have lost children to drugs, to drug overdoses coming across the southern border,” Noem said. “They died because of their children being hit, or because of accidents that occurred on the roads used by illegal drivers.”

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Cohen acknowledged the tragedies but argued that they did not speak to his overall view. “Given that this is all true and correct,” he said. “But you say you’ll only go after the worst of the worst, but you don’t.”

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