Congressional Democrats call for DOJ to probe whether Noem made 'false statements' to Congress

Congressional Democrats sent a letter Monday to the Department of Justice, asking it to investigate whether former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made false statements to Congress. 

House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dick Durbin accused Noem of making false statements to their committees in back-to-back hearings this month and gave four categories where she could have perjured herself.

"A number of her statements appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress," the lawmakers wrote. "After months of evading our Committees’ requests to testify in routine oversight hearings, Secretary Noem made a series of demonstrably false statements in a brazen attempt to undermine critical congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security."

The lawmakers claimed Noem made false statements when testifying about whether her department followed court orders, whether immigration enforcement has detained U.S. citizens, Corey Lewandowski’s role in DHS contracts, and the contracting process for a major $220 million advertisement that she was heavily featured in, Fox News reported.

Noem had claimed that President Donald Trump signed off on the controversial ad and that it went through a competitive process, but Trump denied that he approved the project.

"Even if Secretary Noem was the one telling the truth about the President’s knowledge, and she may well have been, she flatly misrepresented that the contract had been subject to a competitive bid," Durbin and Raskin wrote. 

The lawmakers also indicated that if the department did not pursue charges during Trump's term, they would continue trying to prosecute the case in the next administration, noting the statute of limitations on the charges is "five years." 

The letter comes after Trump removed Noem as secretary after her testimony and nominated Oklahoma GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her.