Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem went head-to-head with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Wednesday night, and it didn’t take long for things to get heated — or awkward.
Noem appeared on The Source to discuss the deadly shooting at an ICE field office in Dallas, where a gunman opened fire, killing two detainees and injuring another. While the investigation is still developing, top officials in the Trump administration, including FBI Director Kash Patel, have already labeled the attacker a “left-wing extremist.” But when pressed on live TV, Noem seemed hesitant to co-sign that characterization.
“Is that information the president received from the Department of Homeland Security?” Collins asked, point blank.
Noem didn’t answer.
Instead, she pivoted — hard — into talking points about Democrats embracing what she called “extreme positions” on crime and public safety. She claimed that figures like California Governor Gavin Newsom and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) should “denounce” criminals rather than “stand with them.”
Collins didn’t let it slide.
“But, as the Secretary of Homeland Security, would you label the Democrats a domestic extremist organization? Yes or no,” she fired back.
Noem sidestepped again: “Their views are extreme and they don’t align with the American people at all.”
That’s when the conversation shifted from tense to flat-out combative.
“If you guys would just tell the truth about what these criminals are and what they’ve done in their history, that’d be fantastic,” Noem said. “We send out about five or six different press releases every day, correcting stories, and I’ll send you the copies of the ones that you’ve gotten wrong that we’ve been able to correct.”
She didn’t offer any evidence related to the shooter or any direct tie to left-wing extremism — even as members of her own administration had already made that connection publicly. Instead, she leaned into broader media criticism and a defense of law enforcement.
“But these law enforcement officers are being demonized, and they should be supported because they have families, too, and they live in these communities,” she added.
It was a dodge from a question that demands clarity: if the administration is going to call the shooter a left-wing extremist, the Secretary of Homeland Security should be able to confirm that — or not.
Instead, viewers were left with a series of political jabs, no straight answers, and another example of how the nation’s top security officials are still playing media games rather than addressing a deadly, politically-charged act of violence with transparency.
Watch the full exchange below.
