Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has dismissed notions that she is “cosplaying” in her position as chief of the Department of Homeland Security.
Noem was asked on Jesse Watters Primetime what she would say to those who’ve criticized her for wearing tactical gear in her appearances working alongside DHS special agents.
“Every day I wake up and there’s new criticisms,” Noem said. “It’s something different every single day, so I try not to pay attention to the noise. Obviously, I’m guided by the folks that I work with every day to be appropriate for the situation that I’m in and to take the same precautions that they do.”
Noem also shared that DHS personnel are “proud” of her for displaying the work that they do.
“I will tell you that I oversee 26 different components of their Department of Homeland Security, and they are so proud of the fact that I’m willing to wear an ICE hat, that I’m willing to wear an HSI vest that I’m willing to go in and wear something and be proud of them and the work that they do,” Noem said. “They didn’t have that with the last leadership team. They were ashamed of them.”
Watters’s question comes as conservative political commentator Megyn Kelly slammed Noem for partaking in photo ops wearing tactical gear and standing inside prisons.
“Just stop trying to glamorize the mission and put yourself in the middle of it as you cosplay ICE agent, which you’re not,” Kelly said on her show on Wednesday. “I can’t stand these photo ops. I think they diminish ICE, DHS, CPB; she’s not an agent. She is an administrative policy person appointed by Trump because she was very loyal to him.”
Others have been harsh on Noem for her photo appearances, too, pointing to a photo of her mishandling a gun and pointing it at an ICE agent’s face.
KRISTI NOEM SPORTS $53,000 ROLEX WHILE FILMING THREAT TO SEND MIGRANTS TO EL SALVADOR PRISONS
Nonetheless, Kelly said Noem was “doing a great job” as DHS administrator.
“She’s doing a great job, her actual performance as DHS secretary, in my view, anyway, has been amazing,” Kelly said.
