Senator Thom Tillis vs Kristi Noem: "A Disaster" — Republican Senator Calls for DHS Secretary's Resignation
One of the most explosive congressional hearings of 2026 just played out on Capitol Hill. Republican Senator Thom Tillis delivered a ten-minute public takedown of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday, calling her leadership a "disaster" and demanding her resignation in front of a packed Senate Judiciary Committee chamber. Here is the full breakdown.
Tillis Calls Noem's DHS Leadership "A Disaster"
Senator Thom Tillis tore into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a ten-minute tirade criticizing her handling of everything from the deaths of two Minnesotans to her admission of killing her own dog — a monologue that garnered applause from the audience of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"What we've seen is a disaster under your leadership, Ms. Noem, a disaster," Tillis said. "What we've seen is innocent people getting detained that turn out are American citizens. Quality matters, not quantity — and what we've seen is a disaster."
Tillis, who is not running for re-election, has spearheaded GOP criticism of Noem in the narrowly divided Senate and seized on Tuesday's oversight hearing to turn up the pressure.
Tillis Threatens to Block Senate Nominations and Deny Committee Quorums
"As of today, I'll be informing leadership that I'm putting a hold on any en bloc nominations until I get a response," Tillis said in a fiery speech. He also said he would "deny quorum in markup in as many committees as I can until I get a response."
Tillis has previously said he will block the nomination of Kevin Warsh for chairman of the Federal Reserve unless the Trump administration drops its investigation of current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The hold on en bloc nominations would now extend far beyond that single target.
Tillis pointed to a letter from the Office of Inspector General citing ten different instances under Noem's leadership where investigators were misled and blocked from pursuing investigations. "Does anybody have any idea how bad it has to be for the OIG in this agency to come out and do this publicly? That is stonewalling. That's a failure of leadership, and that is why I've called for your resignation," he said.
Minneapolis Shootings and the Minneapolis "Domestic Terrorism" Claim
Tillis blasted Noem for her leadership decisions in the immigration enforcement ramp-up in Minneapolis, where two U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were shot and killed by federal agents. Noem had initially claimed the two had engaged in acts of "domestic terrorism," an assertion quickly contradicted by video evidence and witness accounts.
"Going back to Minneapolis, why can't we just say we made a mistake?" Tillis said. "We're beginning to get the American people to think that deporting people is wrong. It's the exact opposite — the way you're going about deporting them is wrong."
The Dog Analogy That Stunned the Chamber
Tillis compared the Minneapolis killings directly to a passage in Noem's 2024 memoir where she described shooting her 14-month-old dog Cricket in a gravel pit after the dog misbehaved on a hunting trip. Tillis told Noem he trains dogs and that killing a 14-month-old dog is "basically killing a teenager in dog years."
"You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time in training. And then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it's a leadership lesson about tough choices. Those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment — not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis," Tillis told her directly.
FEMA Failures and Hurricane Helene Recovery
Tillis presented comparative charts of FEMA disaster response between Trump administrations, arguing Noem's department has fallen short for storm-ravaged communities including in his home state of North Carolina. He told Noem that people are still hurting in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene and accused her of potentially violating the 2002 Homeland Security Act by obstructing FEMA reimbursements.
Noem Pushes Back, Democrats Pile On
Noem said her agents face a "serious and escalating threat" as a result of what she called deliberate mischaracterizations of their work and rhetoric that demonizes law enforcement.
Democratic Senator Cory Booker told Noem directly: "Either you are utterly incompetent or you are violating laws with impunity. You should step down from your position. If you don't, you should be removed by this president, and if not, Congress should impeach you." Noem replied, "I appreciate the encouragement," as Booker's time expired.
Who Is Senator Thom Tillis?
Tillis is a North Carolina Republican who is retiring at the end of his current Senate term. In his final year in office, he has become an increasingly prominent stumbling block for the Trump administration, willing to break publicly with the White House on nominations, immigration enforcement, and now DHS leadership in ways that few sitting GOP senators have matched. Noem is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in her second congressional appearance of the week.
