- 背景： 周二，国土安全部部长克里斯蒂·诺姆在参议院司法委员会听证会上遭到共和党议员的批评，其中包括对她在特朗普政府驱逐行动激增期间领导能力的指责。
- 争议焦点： 一名共和党参议员将她过去的动物杀戮行为与她担任国土安全部部长期间的决策进行了类比。
- 具体冲突： 即将卸任的北卡罗来纳州共和党参议员汤姆·蒂利斯和路易斯安那州共和党参议员约翰·肯尼迪周二在国土安全部（DHS）监督听证会上与诺姆展开了激烈交锋。
- 蒂利斯的批评： 蒂利斯将诺姆作为农民和宠物主人的决策，比作她在特朗普政府边境打击行动中灾难性的领导。
- 肯尼迪的质疑： 肯尼迪就诺姆在雷尼·古德和亚历克斯·普雷蒂被杀害初期将他们描述为国内恐怖分子的决定，以及她随后的解释进行了反复追问。
- “情绪化决策”类比： “这些是在情绪激动时做出的糟糕决定，与明尼阿波利斯发生的事情类似。”蒂利斯将诺姆作为宠物主人的经历与她担任国土安全部部长的领导经历进行了对比。
动物杀戮回忆录争议： 2024年春季，诺姆的回忆录《不留退路》（No Going Back*）节选披露了她杀害自家狗“蟋蟀”（Cricket）以及一只山羊的事件。诺姆解释称，狗在多次暴力袭击后被证明“无法训练”，她最终决定开枪。
- “我恨那只狗”： “我恨那只狗，”据《卫报》及其他媒体报道，诺姆回忆道，“（蟋蟀）对任何接触到它的人都有危险。这不是一份愉快的工作，但必须做。事情结束后，我意识到还有另一份不愉快的工作需要完成。”她随后描述了屠宰一只她称之为“恶劣且凶狠”的山羊，称其气味“令人作呕、有麝香和腐臭”，并抱怨它“喜欢追逐”她的孩子。
- “爱犬核心小组”成立： 对诺姆回忆录的报道促使国会山的一群议员成立了“爱犬核心小组”，而诺姆的回忆录节选也招致了动物权利组织和其他批评者的批评。
- “领导教训”指责： “你决定杀那只狗是因为你不愿投入适当的时间和训练，然后你居然在书中声称这是关于艰难抉择的领导经验。这是你的书里写的。如果有时间我们可以读出来。”蒂利斯在激烈批评诺姆领导能力时说道，其中还包括对她处理联邦紧急事务管理局（FEMA）的批评。
- “应阉割而非杀害”： “你杀山羊是因为你说它行为不端。你是个农民，不会去阉割山羊。它们行为不端，你本应该在之前就处理好。但我的意思是，这些都是在情绪激动时做出的糟糕决定，与明尼阿波利斯发生的事情类似。”
- 与肯尼迪的对峙： 除了被蒂利斯追问，诺姆还与肯尼迪参议员发生了激烈争执，肯尼迪对她在国土安全部任职期间向谁汇报工作表示担忧。
- “国内恐怖主义”标签争议： “当时你说（雷尼·古德和亚历克斯·普雷蒂的行为）是国内恐怖主义行为，”肯尼迪告诉诺姆，诺姆表示这是对两人行为“表面上”的初步评估。诺姆试图插话称，这一评估是在有关特朗普政府在明尼阿波利斯驱逐行动的大量信息流传时做出的，但肯尼迪坚持追问。
- “是否推诿责任”： “我认为可以肯定的是，你因此受到了一些反对，”肯尼迪说，他补充道，他不想评判这种做法是否公平，但想指出来。
- “归咎米勒”指控： “引起我注意的是你将这些言论归咎于（白宫的斯蒂芬·米勒）先生，对吗？”他问道。诺姆强烈否认这一指控，称这是来自不可信的匿名消息来源。
- “公开记录”回应： “你看到的是一篇匿名消息来源的新闻文章，匿名消息来源会说很多话，但我从未说过这些。”诺姆声称。肯尼迪反驳称，诺姆“公开记录”说过“我所做的一切都是在总统和斯蒂芬的指示下完成的”，并提供了她发表该言论的确切日期。
- “是否公平指责米勒”： “你认为将这些话归咎于米勒先生公平吗？”肯尼迪问道。诺姆再次回避问题，并继续质疑自己发表此类言论的合法性，补充称她“没有”将米勒作为她决定称古德和普雷蒂为国内恐怖分子的责任归咎于他。
- “不回应匿名来源”： “你在引用一篇匿名消息来源的报纸文章。”她反驳道。“你是否否认你说过这些？”肯尼迪追问。“主席先生，我不会讨论基于匿名消息来源的情况，”诺姆再次表示。“他们引用你公开说过是斯蒂芬的错，”肯尼迪回应，此时委员会主席敲了法槌，宣布参议员的发言时间结束。
- “感谢”与未完： “谢谢，”肯尼迪说，随后另一位参议员开始发言。
- 未获回应： 《福克斯新闻数字版》就诺姆周二听证会上的激烈交锋向国土安全部寻求置评，但截至发稿时未收到回应。
Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem faced heat from Republican senators during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, including criticism about her leadership during the Trump administration’s deportation surge.
One GOP senator compared her past animal killings to decisions she has made as DHS secretary.
Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., both got into testy exchanges with Noem Tuesday during a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversight hearing with lawmakers.
Tillis likened Noem’s decisions as a farmer and dog owner to what he described as Noem’s disastrous leadership amid Trump’s border crackdown.
Kennedy got into a back-and-forth with Noem over her decision to describe Renee Good and Alex Pretti as domestic terrorists in the early days after they were killed and her subsequent reasoning for doing so.
“Those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment. Not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis,” Tillis said, comparing Noem’s time as an animal owner to her leadership as Secretary of DHS.
Noem came under fire in the Spring of 2024 when reporting based on an advanced copy of her memoir, “No Going Back,” described an incident of her killing her family dog Cricket and a separate incident during which she killed a goat. Noem explained that the dog had proven itself “untrainable” after several violent attacks and described the decision to eventually shoot the dog.
“I hated that dog,” Noem recalled, according to The Guardian and other media reports that covered the pre-released copy of Noem’s book at the time. “[Cricket was] dangerous to anyone she came in contact with.
“It was not a pleasant job,” Noem added, “but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done.” Noem then went on to describe slaughtering the goat that she described as “nasty and mean,” adding it smelled “disgusting, musky, rancid” and complained that it “loved to chase” her children.
The reporting on Noem’s memoir prompted a group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill to start a Dog Lovers Caucus, and Noem’s memoir excerpt led to criticism against her from animal rights groups and other critics.
“You decided to kill that dog because you would not invest in the appropriate time and training, and then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it’s a leadership lesson about tough choices. It’s in your book. We could play it if we had time,” Thillis said during his heated comments about Noem’s leadership, which also included criticism about her approach to the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).
“And you killed a goat because you said it was behaving badly. You are a farmer. You don’t castrate a goat. They behave badly. You should have probably done that before, but my point is, those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment. Not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis.”
In addition to getting hounded by Tillis, Noem also got into a testy exchange with GOP Sen. Kennedy, who signaled concern over who she was taking direction from during her tenure running DHS.
“At the time you said [what Renee Good and Alex Pretti engaged in] were acts of domestic terrorism,” Kennedy told Noem, who said that was the initial assessment of what the pair’s actions “appeared” to be. Noem attempted to interject that the assessment came at a time when there was a lot of information circulating about the Trump administration’s deportation efforts in Minneapolis, but Kennedy stood firm and continued with his line of questioning.
“As I’ve said previously in this hearing is that …,” Noem began before Kennedy cut her off.
“Did you say that? I think it’s been widely reported. Did you say that?” he asked.
Noem continued to try and explain the reasoning for the domestic terrorism label,until Kennedy interjected.
“I think it’s safe to say you got some pushback on that,” Kennedy said, adding he did not want to make a judgment on the fairness of it but wanted to point it out.
“Yes,” Noem agreed, before Kennedy got to the root of his question.
“What got my attention was that you blamed those statements on [Mr. Stephen Miller] at the White House, did you not?” he asked.
Noem fervently denied the accusation, arguing the claim was from an anonymous source that could not be trusted.
“Where you’re seeing that is in a news article of anonymous sources, and anonymous sources say a lot of things, but I’ve never said that at all,” Noem claimed.
Kennedy shot back that she “said on the record” that “everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen.” Kennedy then provided an exact date on which Noem made the remark.
“Do you think it was fair to blame Mr. Miller for your words?” Kennedy asked.
Noem dismissed the question again and continued to contest the legitimacy of the claim she made such statements, adding she “did not” blame Miller for her decision to call Good and Pretti domestic terrorists.
“You’re reading from a newspaper article with anonymous sources,” she said.
“Are you denying that you said that?” Kennedy asked.
“Sir, I am not going to speak to that situation that is relayed on anonymous sources,” Noem said again.
“They’re quoting you on the record saying it’s Stephen’s fault,” Kennedy replied before the committee chairman gaveled that the senator’s time was up.
“Thank you,” Kennedy said before another senator began to speak.
Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment on the testy exchanges Noem had during the hearing Tuesday but did not receive a response in time for publication.