Democrats aren’t done with Kristi Noem: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the political officea daily newsletter bringing you the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News Politics team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, we look at why Democrats continue to set their sights on Kristi Noem even after President Donald Trump fired her as secretary of Homeland Security. Plus, Kristen Welker asks three key questions about the Iran war.
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—Adam Wollner
Democrats aren’t done with Kristi Noem
By Natasha Korecki and Scott Wong
Kristi Noem He may be out of office as head of the Department of Homeland Security, but Democrats are still demanding an “accounting.”
Democrats greeted the news of Noem’s ouster with a cascade of calls for accountability. They ranged from a possible investigation into the legality of contracts broken during his tenure, to a perjury investigation after his congressional testimony, to even a push for impeachment to prevent him from holding public office in the future.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats have pledged to investigate Noem’s tenure as Homeland Security secretary if they regain power in November’s midterm elections, while at least two congressional candidates have called for criminal prosecutions in the future.
“We have to take into account that murders took place under his leadership. There was massive violence and violations of civil rights and civil liberties. There was intense corruption, and there was rampant lying in the courts and disobedience of court orders,” the representative said. Jamie RaskinD-Md., who will be chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee if Democrats win this fall, said in an interview. His panel oversees enforcement of federal immigration laws.
“We must clean up the Department of Homeland Security,” he added, “and reject all of these terrible policies of corruption, cover-ups, lies and authoritarian violence against citizens and immigrants.”
representative Ted Place of California, a member of the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives and also a member of the Judiciary Committee, promised that investigations would take place.
“She abused her power. She engaged in corruption. She spent millions of taxpayer funds on a fleet of luxury planes with nice rooms, and her masked federal agents killed Americans,” Lieu, the caucus vice chair, told NBC News. “We will certainly investigate anyone within DHS who has violated criminal law.”
Lieu outlined potential lines of inquiry after Noem’s tumultuous tenure, from the deaths of detainees on her watch to the surveillance of Americans who observed immigration agents and the controversial purchase of a fleet of luxury planes.
And the representative. Delia RamirezD-Ill., still wants Noem impeached to ensure she doesn’t hold public office in the future, an aide said.
“We still need to impeach her, melt down ICE, and dismantle DHS,” Ramirez wrote on X. Ramirez met with Noem last week and demanded her resignation.
Read more →
➡️ Related: Trump tells NBC News he ‘wasn’t thrilled’ with Noem’s $220 million self-deportation ad campaign, by Garrett Haake
3 key questions about the war in Iran
Analysis by Kristen Welker
Nearly a week after the United States and Israel began launching strikes against Iran, many questions remain about the next steps and political consequences.
1. How could this war end?
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” “, president Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning.
Trump has said he wants to decimate Iran’s nuclear program, saying in an interview with TIME magazine: “They can’t have a nuclear weapon. That’s number one, two and three. Number four, no ballistic missiles.”
But Trump also suggested he wants to see new leadership in Iran, saying in a phone call to NBC News’ Garrett Haake: “We want to go in and clean it all up. We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period.”
“We want them to have a good leader. We have people who I think would do a good job,” Trump said, without elaborating.
2. How long will this war last?
Trump claimed the war was ahead of schedule and promised the United States would withdraw from it within weeks. But he leaves open the possibility that American troops are on the ground, and the Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas that he was “confident” his country could counter a ground invasion.
Trump told Garrett that Araghchi’s remark was an “unnecessary comment.”
“It’s a waste of time. They lost everything. They lost their navy. They lost everything they could lose,” Trump said.
3. What will be the reaction of the Americans?
Our latest NBC News poll shows that 54% of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of Iran, while 41% approve. And a majority of voters (52%) say the United States should not have taken military action against Iran, while 41% say it should have and 7% say they are unsure.
The poll finds that 90% of self-identified MAGA-aligned Republicans support the strikes, but there have been some vocal critiques among prominent Trump supporters.
It remains to be seen whether Americans’ views on the war will change as it continues, with more potential casualties and as gas prices soar. The administration is scrambling behind the scenes to find ways to address rising gas prices.
But the longer the war continues, the more it risks complicating the president’s political situation.
We’ll dig deeper into the latest news on the Iran war on “Meet the Press” this Sunday with Mike Waltzthe United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Leader of the parliamentary minority Hakeem JeffriesDN.Y. Steve Kornacki will also join to detail the results of our latest NBC News poll.
➡️ Related: Russia providing intelligence to Iran on location of U.S. forces, sources say, by Dan De Luce, Monica Alba, Gordon Lubold and Julie Tsirkin
🗞️ Other news of the day
- 💼 Jobs Report: The United States shed 92,000 jobs in February and growth in previous months was not as strong as previously reported, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a report that will sound alarm bells about the state of the economy. Read more →
- 🇨🇺 The next step? : As Trump suggests Cuba could soon fall, his administration has begun studying whether federal prosecutors could charge members of the regime or the Communist Party with crimes. Read more →
- 📝The Epstein saga: The Justice Department released previously unreleased documents from the Epstein files, which included new summaries and notes from interviews conducted by the FBI with a South Carolina woman who made allegations against the late sex offender and Trump. Read more →
- 🗳️ Bowing out: representative Tony GonzalezR-Texas, announced he would drop his re-election bid but serve the remainder of his term in Congress after admitting to having an affair with an aide who later committed suicide. Read more →
That’s all that’s coming from the politburo for now. Today’s newsletter was written by Adam Wollner.
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