Democratic leaders in the House signaled Tuesday their openness to impeaching Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, saying in a fiery statement that the House should remove her from her role following a “DHS killing spree unleashed in Minnesota.”
As of Tuesday evening, more than three-fourths of House Democrats had cosponsored Illinois Rep. Robin Kelly’s articles of impeachment against Noem, a spokesperson for. Kelly’s office confirmed to NOTUS. Following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis Saturday, at least 51 members have signed onto the measure.
That number notably does not include House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and House Democratic Caucus vice chair Ted Lieu, the spokesperson for Kelly’s office confirmed to NOTUS.
But all four said they supported impeachment. Three of the four leaders — Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar — released a joint statement backing impeachment and said“the violence unleashed on the American people by the Department of Homeland Security must end forthwith.”
“Kristi Noem should be fired immediately, or we will commence impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives,” the statement continued.
There was no timeline given by which they expected President Donald Trump to fire Noem. None of the three responded to NOTUS’ request for comment.
A spokesperson for Lieu told NOTUS on Tuesday that Congressman Lieu also supports starting impeachment proceedings. Lieu similarly demanded in a Monday post, alongside 14 other Democratic veterans, that Secretary Noem resign.
“In the military, when preventable deaths occur, leaders stand down operations to review/change policies, reassess missions, retrain personnel, and implement stronger safety protocols,” the Democratic veterans wrote. “The Department of Homeland Security must do no less.”
New sponsors to the articles of impeachment on Tuesday included Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi and fellow California Rep. Zoe Lofgren.
“Lawless agents are executing mothers and nurses in the streets, and her response to these tragedies has been to label these victims as terrorists and lie to the American people about what we’ve seen with our own eyes,” Lofgren said in a statement. “Beyond that, she has been illegally obstructing congressional oversight of ICE facilities. As a former impeachment manager myself, I take the impeachment process very seriously; it’s not a tool that should ever be used for partisan games,” Lofgren added “However, Secretary Noem’s misconduct leaves Congress with no other choice.”
A handful of Senators, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Angela Alsobrooks, Alex Padilla, Jacky Rosen, Chris Van Hollen, Ed Markey and Peter Welch have also called for Noem’s impeachment. Several Republican senators on Tuesday told NOTUS they had lost confidence in Noem, but would not go so far as to call for her impeachment.
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