Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was hammered Friday after reports revealed that, despite being nearly two months out of the job, she appeared to be using waterfront government housing in Washington, D.C.
According to U.S. Coast Guard officials and several sources, Noem was seen using government housing on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB), and residing in a housing unit “typically designated for the commandant of the Coast Guard,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Hello, [U.S. Coast Guard], we’d like to report a squatter,” reads a social media post from House Homeland Security Committee Democrats, published Friday on X.
“So Kristi Noem has a pretend job but a real Coast Guard home and all on the taxpayers dime after all the wreckage she’s cost us already?” Former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) asked in a social media post on X.
Noem was ousted as DHS chief in early March amid reports that President Donald Trump grew frustrated with her leadership, particularly her use of more than $200 million on television ads featuring herself. In the immediate wake of her firing, Trump named her as the special envoy for The Shield of the Americas, a military coalition Trump established the same day as Noem’s ousting.
And yet, while Noem is 50 days removed from her role as DHS chief, she was reportedly still living in government housing, and housing typically reserved for high-ranking officials.
“Kristi Noem got fired as DHS Secretary over a month ago but she’s broke and still squatting in the Coast Guard Commandant’s waterfront mansion at JBAB,” wrote X user “Warren,” a fierce Trump critic and sports commentator, in a social media post to their nearly 23,000 followers.
“But sure, tell me again about personal responsibility and how we shouldn’t let working families spend SNAP benefits on a soda.”