Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Kristie Noem Secretary Testifies at Senate Hearing; Israel Launches New Strikes in Beirut; Israel Bombs Compound of Group that Chooses Iran's New Leader. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 03, 2026 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): -- officers, Madam Secretary, every single one of whom made clear who they were. They were people of color, off- duty police officers. In Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, the chief described how one off-duty officer, someone of color, a U.S. citizen, was stopped and confronted by ICE agents with their guns drawn, demanding her proof of citizenship. As Chief Bruley said, I wish I could tell you that this was an isolated incident, but other chiefs said it had happened to their own officers. Why were these officers stopped?

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We have thousands of law enforcement operations that we do every single day.

KLOBUCHAR: Do you think they were stopped because they were people of color? Were they racially profiled, Ms. Noem?

NOEM: -- and drug traffickers off our streets. When I look at these American families that have been victimized, by criminals that we have removed from cities and from communities, I'm grateful for the work that our ICE officers do. And by your only focusing --

KLOBUCHAR: Are you defending stopping off-duty police officers of color and dragging among elder out of his home?

NOEM: -- to justice. When you only talk about these situations like this that we are conducting, and you don't talk about the good work that they do to protect people from being victimized by people that are in this country that want to conduct violent crimes against them or take advantage of them, the laws need to apply to everyone, and we're out there enforcing the law.

KLOBUCHAR: I am a former prosecutor, Ms. Noem, and I have always worked with our police well, but that's not what was going. These ICE agents were not following police procedures. After the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, when I spoke to Alex's parents, they told me that you calling him a domestic terrorist, this was directly from them, the day after he was killed, a nurse in our VA, Alex, one of the most hurtful things they could ever imagine was said by you about their son. Do you have anything you want to say to Alex Pretti's parents?

NOEM: We were relying in the hours after that incident, that was so horrific, on information we were getting from the ground from our agents.

KLOBUCHAR: I'll just ask if you had anything you wanted to say to the parents or to the family of Renee Good after you called them domestic terrorists?

NOEM: I can't even imagine what they have gone through in the loss of their son and the loss of their family members.

KLOBUCHAR: But how about specifically calling them domestic terrorists without any evidence of that?

NOEM: Sir -- ma'am, I did not call him a domestic terrorist. I said it appeared to be an incident of.

KLOBUCHAR: I think the parents saw it for what it was. After the killings, the federal government refused to cooperate with state law enforcement agents, blocked Minnesota investigators from accessing the scene. I know because I got directly calls from the mayor. I tried to call the DOJ. I tried to do everything I could because they were very worried about what was going to happen immediately, especially after Alex Pretti's death. Do you think that blocking local law enforcement from the scene of a shooting makes people safer? Yes or no?

NOEM: Actually, our HSI law enforcement officers risked their lives on that scene, preserving evidence and keeping the violent rioters away from the evidence so it could be preserved for the investigation.

KLOBUCHAR: What life was lost at that scene, Secretary Noem?

NOEM: Huh? Yes, I understand that.

KLOBUCHAR: It was Alex Pretti's life that was lost.

NOEM: And after it became very --

KLOBUCHAR: Do you believe it is in the interest of justice to have a full and transparent investigation?

NOEM: The investigation is being led by FBI and internal investigations as well into this incident.

KLOBUCHAR: Will you commit to reversing the decision to cooperate with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, an agency of seasoned professionals that the agents worked with directly, the agents -- FBI agents worked with directly to investigate after the shooting assassination of Speaker Hortman, after the killing of those two little kids in that church with the bullets going through those stained-glass windows? In both incidents, our federal and local law enforcement work together and are working together in those investigations. But they have been blocked, the locals have, from being part of this. Why is that, Ms. Noem?

NOEM: The FBI is leading this investigation and I would leave that question for them to answer.

KLOBUCHAR: Thank you. SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA), CHAIRMAN, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Before Senator Blackburn, without objection, I'll introduce into the record unaccompanied children case study that the Trump Health and Human Services provided to my office. These records describe horrible cases in which children were forced to work to pay smuggling fees, physical assaulted by sponsors and denied a chance to attend schools. The unaccompanied children case study are further evidence of the previous administration's policies to put children in harm's way. I appreciate the cooperation of the Trump administration. Is there any objection?

[10:35:00]

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Mr. Chairman, I do not object, but I would like to have unanimous consent to enter into the record the details of the three instances where the secretary referred to the we've discussed and has engaged in acts of domestic terrorism. We have the exact statement, the exact date and time that you made those statements. I'd ask unanimous consent to put those in the record.

GRASSLEY: On both requests, any objection? No objection heard. Senator Blackburn.

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Secretary, thank you for being here today and I want to thank you so much for the work that DHS and FEMA have done in Tennessee with the recent ice storm, but also previously with Hurricane Helene and the responsiveness we have gotten from FEMA. The difference from the previous administration and your administration has been noted by people in Tennessee, and I just want to express my gratitude to those employees that are working so hard. So, we truly are grateful for that.

I want to go back to something Senator Durbin said in his opening statement. He referred to the Biden policy. Immigration policy is sensible and humane. And in his comments, he said there was a sensible and humane way to deal with immigration. But he felt like Biden's policy was sensible and humane. And what you all are doing is not sensible and humane. And this struck me because the Biden administration allowed hundreds of thousands of those illegally entering the country.

We have seen hundreds of thousands of migrant children that have been lost. There is nothing sensible and humane about that. There is nothing sensible and humane about having terrorists walk across our border and come into this country. There is nothing sensible and humane to these wonderful families who are grieving the loss of loved ones that somebody illegally came in the country and took the life of their loved ones.

So, I just -- I those comments really struck me. And I want to provide you the opportunity to respond to what Senator Durbin supported, the Biden immigration policy. We had hours and hours of hearings dealing with such. He supported the Biden DHS. But to me, there is nothing sensible and humane about allowing millions of people to violate the rule of law in the United States. And I yield to you for a response. NOEM: Yes. Well, thank you, Senator. When you look at the Biden immigration policies, I think Senator Durbin is ignoring the consequences of illegal immigration. Over 30 percent of the young girls that crossed that border during that invasion were raped and brutally harmed by people along the way. There's nobody that crossed that border came in from Mexico that didn't have to pay a cartel member to get into this country.

Those cartels have been enriched and made sophisticated and professionalized by the money that Joe Biden facilitated putting into their pockets by allowing that invasion to happen and funneling people into the cartel's hands. I also would say that 4000 people died during that invasion when people were coming into this country died because of the inhumane circumstances that were going on from the heat that they were having to deal with, from drowning in the river. It was not humane what we saw being facilitated by the Biden administration.

So, every day, the people at the Department of Homeland Security get up to defend this country and our borders and the citizens that live here. I know, Senator Durbin, that you appear to be very concerned about illegal immigrants that are in this country.

I will tell you, as a Secretary of Homeland Security, I am very concerned in doing my job and protecting American citizens. That's my number one priority. And I will continue to enforce the law and make sure it applies equally to everyone that's in this country.

[10:40:00]

BLACKBURN: Thank you. Joe Kent, who is the director of National Counterterrorism Center last year, told the House Homeland Security Committee that there are at least 18,000 known terrorists that are here in this country. And I've heard from Tennesseans all weekend long about their concerns. The attack in Austin was really quite unsettling. And the awareness that there are these terrorists that are among the citizens here in our country.

So, would you lay out not only for this committee, but for the American people, what steps are you and your team taking right now to make certain that we apprehend, detain and prosecute these terrorists before they have the ability to conduct any act of evil?

NOEM: Well, Senator, when you let millions of people into this country unvetted, you truly don't know how many dangerous, known and suspected terrorists there may be in this country. We continue to do our investigative work. We continue to look at individuals that are here that may be committing crimes and working with local and state law enforcement where possible.

What I would say is anybody that we know that the Biden administration has given green cards to or naturalized, we're going back and revetting those individuals, those who came in under refugee programs. We are revetting those individuals and interviewing them and talking to them to ensure that they are someone who is here appropriately and they didn't come in under a program that was abused by the Biden administration.

We continue to use our intelligence and analysis department under the Department of Homeland Security to gather intelligence and cooperate with other intelligence agencies and with the FBI to go after and to prosecute those who would wish to do us harm. We're grateful for the American citizens that work with us.

And we understand that people who are in this country illegally and have final removal orders should be detained. Our priority is going to continue to go after those worst of the worst and to make sure that we are getting them out of our country as soon as possible and brought to justice if they've committed crimes here.

BLACKBURN: There are a couple of bills we were able to fund in the working families tax cut. Big, beautiful bill back during the summer. And we're so grateful for President Trump and the attention that he put on some of these issues of protecting the American people and making that the priority to. And, you know, that's a part of upholding our oath. I think many of us were struck last week when the president asked, do you think it's the first order of business to protect the American people? And many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle just sat there. I -- that was stunning. So, we're grateful for this focus on protecting our people.

There were two bills. The --

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're going to continue to monitor the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with the secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. Lots of important exchanges. Priscilla Alvarez is back with us right now. And it was pretty awkward, pretty serious. What we just heard earlier, she refused to apologize to Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two American citizens who were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, as we all remember. But a lot of the discussion has been pretty predictable at the same time.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and then she had that exchange with Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, where they went back and forth over these two Americans, Alex Pretti, Renee Good. Remember, in the aftermath, in the immediate aftermath of those shootings, they happened at different times, but both in January, the administration came out and said it was an act of domestic terrorism, labeled them domestic terrorists.

And that is what the secretary is facing, had faced and is facing intense scrutiny over. Why in the minutes, hours after this shooting, were you already labeling the victims of these shootings, these two Americans? And over and over again, her answer has been that she was relying on information from the ground, from the agents saying it was a chaotic situation and continuing to extend her condolences to the family.

Here's the thing with that. When I was talking to Homeland Security officials in the aftermath of these shootings, they all said, when something like this happens, you don't comment. You say that you are going to let the investigation bear out. And that is what the secretary and senior officials chose not to do. They immediately drew conclusions when there was still so much information unknown over what had happened on the ground, both with Renee Good and with Alex Pretti.

Is it unusual for a secretary to speak to the agents on the ground to understand what's happening? No, but it is unusual to post it on X, to come out and to say and draw conclusions over what happened and who these people are and their motivations for being where they were, these two protesters, Renee, to come out and to say and draw conclusions over what happened and who these people are and their motivations for being where they were, these two protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

[10:45:00]

And that is why she's getting so many questions from senators, both, do you retract the statement? Do you admit that you were wrong? And why even draw those conclusions so early on? So, that is the back and forth that we're seeing play out with the senators.

And we're seeing it with Republicans and with Democrats. Republicans are also asking about her own conduct in office and how, why and how she's spending certain money. So, she is getting some, there are some interesting exchanges happening with both sides of the aisle here.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And the scrutiny, you know, is warranted because even as reporters, I've covered law enforcement for a long time. I know that the field reports can often be wrong, right? It's very chaotic, as you point out, and what you learn and the minutes and hours after an event often changes, right? The fact when more facts come to light. And so, it is warranted that she's getting the scrutiny on why would you take that, even if you did -- they did tell you this and go out to the public and shape the narrative about these two U.S. citizens.

And she was also asked, you heard there by Marsha Blackburn, about those who have crossed the border illegally under the previous administration and what she's doing to make sure that that there's no threat to Americans from those who did cross.

ALVAREZ: That's right. And on that front, the administration has consistently said, and the secretary, that they are re vetting all of the individuals who came across through these various programs that the Biden administration had set up. That has been an ongoing task though, as we've already talked about. It's not a new endeavor, given the conflicts that are happening abroad.

And the administration has also continued to fall back on the fact that the numbers of people who crossed the border are low, but it is, you're touching on something that Republicans are also coming back to repeatedly during this hearing, which is the crises that happened under the Biden administration with those who came across the border.

It was interesting when Senator Chuck Grassley talked about this. You can't ascribe the fact that everyone who crossed the border came here with ill intent. But certainly, there had been questions then. And there are questions now over what do we know about each of those individuals? And the secretary has continued to say that they're revetting. The Biden administration, because I covered that crisis, was vetting these individuals. But there are always concerns over those that they missed or those who were going through some sort of expedited process.

BLITZER: She could have easily said when press, why not apologize to the families of Alex Pretti and Renee good. And simply say, I was getting bad information and I'm sorry I said what I said. She could have said that, but she didn't.

ALVAREZ: That is true. However, we typically see when there are cabinet members who are testifying before any, any congressional committee, they don't often take on fault, but rather maintain their position. This is often a political back and forth. And in this case -- and by the way, Wolf, we've also had situations where families have been sitting behind the members of an administration's cabinet looking for those apologies. But certainly, the secretary is indicating that over the course of this hearing, she does not intend to apologize, but rather to extend condolences and maintain her statements.

BLITZER: And let's not forget Alex Pretti was an emergency room nurse, treating military personnel, veterans mostly and had a distinguished career.

ALVAREZ: And Renee good was a mother.

BLITZER: That's right. All right. Thanks very much.

BROWN: All right. Priscilla Alvarez. Thank you so much. Wolf.

BLITZER: We're continuing our breaking news coverage. Of course, on the war in Iran. Right now, the State Department is warning all Americans to get out of the Middle East while they still can. We're also seeing Israel launch more strikes, targeting the Iranian backed the militant group, Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Joining us now, Yechiel Leiter. He's Israel's ambassador to the United States. Ambassador Leiter, thanks so much for joining us. As you know, Israel's launching new attacks on Iran and new attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. What is currently being targeted and what's the strategy behind this?

YECHIEL LEITER, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Well, let me first say, Wolf, that we're celebrating the holiday of Purim today, which celebrates the downfall of a Persian tyranny some 2,500 years ago. And we're on the road to destroying this modern tyranny coming out of Tehran.

Look, Tehran has been a state sponsor of terror for 47 years. I've endangered not only Israel in the Middle East, but the entire globe. Yesterday, they hit Europe with a ballistic missile. I just imagine for one moment that that ballistic missile was tipped with a nuclear warhead, what the results would be.

So, we are determined together with our senior partners and best ally, the United States taking down this regime and making sure they no longer have the ability to fire missiles, ballistic missiles, and to achieve nuclear weapons, which will threaten the entire world. BLITZER: An Israeli source, Ambassador, is telling CNN that Israel struck a compound belonging to the group responsible for electing Iran's next supreme leader. Can you share any details that you may have on that?

LEITER: I hope to be able to come back to you with details in an hour or two, we're waiting for the BDA.

[10:50:00]

But it is true that we struck in an area where the supreme leader, somebody who would be in charge of spreading death and mayhem, both in Iran and outside of Iran. And there's a very good chance that the electors will not be readily available for any further meetings.

BLITZER: As you know, Israel is expected to call up almost 100,000 military reservists. What will those troops be used for?

LEITER: Well, Wolf, unfortunately, Hezbollah decided to join the war on Sunday night, and we sent messages clearly to the Lebanese government that we prefer they act to prevent Hezbollah from launching new missile strikes, but they either were unable or unwilling to do so. They did warn Hezbollah verbally, but it didn't go beyond that. Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran. They are funded and trained by Iran, and they're now raining missiles down on us too.

So, look, our people are resilient. Our reservists have done hundreds of days of reserve duty over the past two and a half years, since October 7th. We'll continue to pursue this goal of ridding the Middle East of a terror infrastructure, but we want to see it through. We hope and pray that this time, finally, this Iranian regime of spreading terrorism and chaos around the Middle East is going to end.

This is what we're focused on. This is what our people believe in, and they're willing to spend time in bomb shelters. I mean, look, we've got everybody running to bomb shelters every few hours, an entire population of 10 million people. But we're willing to sustain these difficulties as long as the end game is that we finally bring down this reign of terror coming out of Tehran so that we can move closer to peace with our neighbors in the region.

You know, Iran attacked yesterday everybody in the region, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates. These people are shooting missiles all over the place. And imagine what would have happened if they achieved enriched uranium. You know, Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, just announced yesterday what we knew for a long time, that they were a week away from 11 bombs.

So, this has to end. And we're willing to sustain the brunt of it as long as possible. I think the president, President Trump, has made a very important decision, showed incredible leadership on the world stage in prosecuting this war and taking the lead. The United States of America must take the lead. If it doesn't, then the world goes into chaos. We're the junior partner, and we're going to fight alongside of our brothers and sisters here in the United States as best we can. BLITZER: With those 100,000 Israeli military reservists now being mobilized for active duty, do you expect that there will be a ground invasion into Lebanon to deal with Hezbollah?

LEITER: There's going to be a limited movement on the ground in south Lebanon. Remember, Wolf, that just on January 8th, the Lebanese government announced that south Lebanon was free of Hezbollah. Well, we saw yesterday and today that it's not. Unfortunately, Hezbollah has reconstituted itself in southern Lebanon. We took out some major leadership in Hezbollah. We'll continue to do so. We've hit the Dakhia in Beirut, which is the command center of Hezbollah. We've taken installations out in the Bekaa Valley, and we've also hit 50 installations in southern Lebanon where they're shooting these missiles from.

They've sent in these drones, these killer drones. We've been able to keep them out. But when you send so many in at once, they overwhelm the system. A few are going to get through. So, we have to operate in our national defense. We hope and pray that the majority of those reservists that have been called up will be operating missile defense systems so we can assure that these missiles coming in from Iran and from Hezbollah stay out of our country and keep our civilians safe.

BLITZER: And we're just getting this into the Situation Room right now, Ambassador. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has just ordered the Israeli military to, quote, "advance" and, quote, "seize" additional territory in Lebanon right now to deal with Hezbollah. What's your reaction to that?

LEITER: Well, actually, I was just on a call coming into this interview with you, Wolf, with the prime minister and that decision in the cabinet. It's a limited advance into territory so that Hezbollah can't come south. Look, we have a report that they're sending these Radwan fighters. The Radwan fighters are like the Nukhba that came in on October 7th from Gaza, very highly trained Hezbollah commandos, trained, by the way, by Iran. And their intention was to storm the border and infiltrate our northern cities.

So, we need to be in southern Lebanon physically to prevent the potential for them storming the border and taking hostages and slaughtering people, as we saw on October 7th.

[10:55:00]

There's no intention to stay there, of course. The intention is to keep the Hezbollah fighters away from our border, away from our civilians.

BLITZER: Are you getting any indication at all that the Lebanese government is taking steps to try to disarm Hezbollah?

LEITER: Well, Wolf, it's a sore spot here. I know that the majority of the Lebanese government leadership have actually been tasked with the brief of being in touch with them through the wonderful U.S. ambassador in Beirut, Michel Issa. We're in constant contact. And I know that they have an interest, fundamental interest, in stopping Hezbollah from really occupying and raping their country, but they're somewhat limited in their military capacity.

And we hope that we can do anything in our power to protect ourselves, but tangentially, at the same time, protecting the Lebanese and the Lebanese government.

BROWN: Ambassador, it's Pamela Brown here, co-anchor with Wolf. I just have a very quick question. Would Israel have embarked on this operation without the help of the United States, without this joint cooperation?

LEITER: Israel and the United States have been in very close contact for months now, even prior to Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer. We are perceived as a model ally. We are a model ally. We provide a tremendous amount of intel on the ground. And we've been in this together from the start. But the leadership of President Trump is really what has driven this operation right now of Warring Lion and Epic Fury.

It is clear that Israel can simply not deal with Iran and everything that it represents. The hundreds and the thousands of people that they've killed, this has to be dealt with by the world's leader, by the superpower. And this notion that President Trump is, you know, dragged into something is just poppycock. It's just nonsense. I mean, I've been in meetings with the president many times. He doesn't exactly have a sign on his forehead which says, I'm here for the dragging. He's a strong leader.

He assessed the situation together with Secretary Hegseth and Secretary of State Rubio. They made the decision. And now, we are in a joint campaign which is intended to stop this chaos, mayhem, death and destruction that the Ayatollahs have been spreading.

BROWN: But just to be clear, Israel would not have gone it alone, right, without America?

LEITER: I don't think that it's necessary to discuss operational details in a morning interview with you, Pamela. We've acted in our self-interest. We've acted in our existential needs. We present our existential needs to our allies, and particularly the greatest ally we have in the United States. We've made a joint decision led by President Trump. And that's where we are.

BROWN: Well, it matters because Secretary Rubio briefed members of Congress and said that Israel was going to attack Iran anyway. And so, it was necessary for the U.S. to get involved because Iran would have caused preemptive strikes on U.S. forces in the Middle East. So, that is why that question is being asked.

LEITER: Well, Pamela, I've been at numerous meetings, perhaps dozens, with Secretary of State Rubio. And I suggest it's best not to cherry- pick one statement that he made. He's gone on record many, many times talking about Iran being a state sponsor of terror for 47 years and having to --

BROWN: He certainly has. LEITER: -- deal with that and end it. So, you know, he said enough is enough. And they made the decision to operate in Epic Fury. And we're going to see this thing together to the end.

BLITZER: Yechiel Leiter, Israel's ambassador to the United States, thanks so much for joining us. And we'll have more news on the war and the hearing that's going on with Kristi Noem on the Hill when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]