Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem sidestepped questions Wednesday night about whether she considers the Democratic Party a “domestic extremist organization.”
During an appearance on CNN, Noem was careful with her words while speaking to Kaitlan Collins about who should be blamed for the shooting at a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility that left one detainee dead and another two injured. No ICE agents were hurt in the incident.
In the aftermath, President Donald Trump blamed the attack on “radical left terrorists,” while Vice President JD Vance attributed the violence to “a violent left-wing extremist” who was “politically motivated to go after law enforcement.”
The president and vice president’s comments prompted Collins to ask about White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller describing the Democratic Party as a “domestic extremist organization” last month.
While Noem wouldn’t outright agree with Miller, she did call Democrats’ positions “extreme.”
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
“Well, we certainly have seen Democrats out there take extreme positions and support radical criminal organizations,” the former governor of South Dakota told Collins, claiming Democratic politicians have shown “support of terrorists such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.”
When Collins pressed for an answer, Noem swerved again, telling her, “I would love to see these Democrats denounce these criminals.”
“These individuals that are out there trafficking drugs and trafficking our children, raping our girls and boys and selling them, and people that are out there committing criminal acts, robbing and murdering individuals,” Noem went on. “I haven’t seen these Democrats do that, and they should.”
Asked for a yes or no answer, the secretary refused to budge.
“Their views are extreme and they don’t align with the American people at all,” she said.