Sen. Paul expects action on Noem's nomination Monday
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul said he expects his panel to act on Noem's nomination on Monday, after Trump is sworn in as president.
“I don’t see a reason why they, Democrats, would maybe not let her go on Monday," Paul said. "I think that Secretary of State [nominee] Rubio, I think there’s a chance we’ll vote on him on Monday."
"We’re going to ask and advocate, it needs the consent from Democrats, but if we get the consent from the Democrats, I see no reason why we couldn’t do this vote on Monday,” Paul said.
RNC Chair Michael Whatley urges party to set sights on 2026 midterms
It’s not too soon to be worrying about the 2026 midterm elections.
That was Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley’s message at the party’s winter meeting, three days before the GOP celebrates as Donald Trump retakes the White House following a four-year hiatus.
Whatley, who was re-elected to his post this morning, said that Trump’s success hinges on Republicans retaining control of the House and Senate in the upcoming midterms.
“Do we want two years of Making America Great Again, or do we want four?” Whatley said.
“Four! Four!” shouted RNC members, meeting in a ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Whatley, who previously headed the Republican Party in North Carolina, vowed that the RNC would be the “tip of the spear” in the push to win the midterm elections and “protect Donald Trump.”
“Before you know it, the 2026 midterms will be here,” Whatley said. “They’re coming sooner than you think. If we let Democrats seize back control of the House and the Senate, everything changes. The radical left will waste no time putting the brakes on President Trump’s agenda. They will resurrect the worst excesses of lawfare that we have dealt with for the last eight years.”
“We would see headlines about impeachment proceedings and useless Democrat political stunts," he added. "We cannot let that happen again.”
Sen. Ron Johnson claims wildfires can be prevented
Verdict
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., claimed during Noem's confirmation hearing that the devastation wrought by the California wildfires could have been prevented.
Johnson said you can’t prevent “the initiation of those fires, but you certainly prevent them from raging into the tragedy that they became, the dozens of people who’ve lost their lives.”
“You can’t prevent hurricanes, you can’t prevent floods, but you certainly can try and start reducing the moral hazard that we’ve allowed to explode, quite honestly, by the federal government rushing in immediately, no questions asked."
Wildfires are part of many natural ecologies, and native Southern California plants are adapted to co-exist with them. Centuries ago, before Los Angeles was constructed, the chaparral hillsides of the region likely burned once every 30 to 130 years. It’s a landscape designed to burn.
Over the last century, people have built sprawling developments in fire-prone zones, disrupting that natural cycle. They’ve suppressed wildfires, allowing some vegetation to grow without restraint and adding fuel to the landscape. They’ve also added additional tinder in the form of suburban homes. More people now live in fire-prone areas to provide a spark. The climate can be more arid. These factors mean wildfires are more likely to get out of control.
There are tools to prevent or mitigate wildfires, like stopping their ignition through firefighting or creating fuel breaks to contain the spread. Most of the time, these tools do stop wildfires from advancing into places where people live.
But fire experts say those methods are unreliable in extreme conditions like the ones Southern California faced earlier this month, when 70-mph winds sent embers flying for miles. Eventually conditions will align to make uncontrollable, wind-driven firestorms an inevitability in some high-risk places over time.
Federal officials spend billions on wildfire suppression, and some fire experts say the focus should turn toward proactively preparing homes and neighborhoods for wildfires to come through, rather than stopping them. They say proactive measures could prevent tragedies — but not prevent fire.
“We will never be able to suppress them all,” said Kimiko Barrett, a fire expert at Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit land management research firm. “Wildfire is an inevitability, and it’s also an increasing risk.”
Trump says his inauguration will be held in the Capitol rotunda
In a post to Truth Social, Trump said his inauguration will occur inside the Capitol rotunda because of the expected freezing temperatures on Monday.
"It is my obligation to protect the People of our Country but, before we even begin, we have to think of the Inauguration itself," Trump wrote, explaining that the weather forecast in D.C. will take the temperatures to "severe record lows."
"There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way," Trump continued. "It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of Law Enforcement, First Responders, Police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th (In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly!)."
"Therefore, I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather," Trump said.
Trump was referring to Ronald Reagan's second inaugural address in 1985, which was the last time an inauguration ceremony was moved indoors. Because the inauguration fell on a Sunday that year, Reagan was first sworn in privately before a public event Monday in the Capitol rotunda due to the chill temperatures.
Trump said the Capital One Arena will livestream the event and the presidential parade, adding that he "will join the crowd at Capital One, after my Swearing In."
Noem confirmation hearing has concluded
The Homeland Security Committee adjourned Noem's confirmation hearing just after 11:30am ET. Blumenthal closed out the panel's questioning.
Sen. Rand Paul asks Noem to investigate Biden administration efforts to censor social media
Sen. Rand Paul focused his final questions to Noem on the federal government's coordination with social media companies to restrict speech.
"YouTube censored me, and I despise their policy," Paul said. "They actually took down speeches I made on the floor. But really, I don’t have a legal recourse other than I can complain about YouTube being unfair and not hosting both sides of an issue."
Paul asserted that the FBI and DHS had met with social media companies on a weekly basis.
"Imagine the chilling effect of this," he said. Paul added that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said that the "pushiness, the coerciveness of government meeting with them was unprecedented ... just sort of telling him he should restrict speech."
"They also threatened him. They threatened to come after him through anti-trust law. They threatened to remove parts of, you know, section 230 of the liability protection," Paul said.
Paul asked Noem if she would commit to no longer sending federal officials to meeting with the media.
"Yes, senator," she said, "I’ll work with you to ensure that civil rights and liberties are protected and that we are not in the misinformation and disinformation space like the current DHS."
Paul also called on Noem to conduct an investigation into people in government who have used "their political bias" to try "to influence speech and restrict speech based on their bias." Noem responded, "Senator, I look forward to working with you on that mission."
In August, Zuckerberg said that senior Biden administration officials pressured Facebook to "censor" information on its platform related to Covid-19 during the pandemic. Last week, Zuckerberg also said on Joe Rogan's podcast that administration officials berated Facebook staff over demands to remove content from the platform.
Noem falsely claims the first Trump administration didn't have a family separation policy
Blumenthal said that he hoped that Noem would support efforts under the second Trump administration to keep migrant families together rather than separating them as the DHS did during Trump's first term.
"Senator, the Trump administration never had a family separation policy," Noem said. "They had a zero-tolerance policy, which said that our laws would be followed."
Under Trump’s first administration, more than 5,000 families were separated under that “zero tolerance” policy in 2018. Trump Cabinet officials voted in a 2018 White House meeting to separate migrant children, two officials who were at the meeting told NBC News in 2020. Stephen Miller, then a senior Trump adviser who will join his White House staff next week, spearheaded the plan, according to the two officials.
Noem then claimed that more than "300,000 children ... went missing during the Biden administration." Analyses have found that that claim, promoted by other Republicans including Trump, is inaccurate and distorted.
"Let’s put aside what happened in the past," Blumenthal said. "There are still 1,000 children who are separated and waiting to be reunited. I’d like your commitment that you’re going to continue the effort to reunite them with their parents."
Noem said, "Senator, keeping families together is critically important to me and to this country. I’m concerned about Laken Riley’s family, that they no longer have her. I’m concerned about the fact that we have people in this country that don’t know where their children are, or people in other countries who sent their children here and they’ve been lost by this administration. So yes, my focus will be to keep families together."
Sens. Paul, Peters spar over drones and the NFL
During an exchange with Noem about the threat that drones pose to U.S. national security, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the top Democrat on the committee raised the issue of drones, specifically in relation to the NFL.
"In fact, we just had a recent playoff game that was delayed because of drones that flew into that playoff game. We are very concerned that you could have a drone with a grenade or explosive device, which would be absolutely catastrophic," Peters told Noem, who thanked him for bringing up the issue.
"I look forward to working with you in this committee to address the threats we may face and the usage of drones in this country and in relation to our national security interests and and our homeland security interests," Noem told Peters.
After Peters' question time, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the committee's chairman, offered his own opinion about drones and football games, telling Noem, "Look, I'm all for the NFL being protected, the Super Bowl being protected. They need to pay. They are a very rich organization. They want drones flying over in New Orleans? I'm all for it. The NFL ought to pay the government if the government's doing it, or we had our private contractors doing it, but they shouldn't just get it for free."
The issue of security for the upcoming Super Bowl has sharpened in recent weeks after a terror attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day killed 14 people and injured dozens more. The Super Bowl is set to kickoff in New Orleans' Superdome next month.
Slotkin asks Noem about Trump's threats to use military, law enforcement to address the 'threat from within'
Slotkin brought up Trump's threats to use the military or federal law enforcement officers to address the "threat from within."
Slotkin said she wasn't sure what Trump was talking about, though the president-elect had suggested that the "enemy from within" were Democrats, the federal government under Biden and his political rivals.
"If the president asks you to send in federal law enforcement to a state without coordination of that governor, would you support that action?" Slotkin said.
"Senator, my job if nominated and sworn in as secretary of homeland security is to uphold the Constitution," Noem said.
Slotkin said that Noem should know as governor "that if Joe Biden sent in 700 federal law enforcement under Secretary Mayorkas, without coordinating with you, I think we can agree, you'd be a little upset."
"People are worried about politicizing of law enforcement and the uniform military," she added.
Noem says government needs more help in overhauling legal immigration
Noem called for an increase in government resources to manage legal immigration if she is confirmed. The response from Trump’s homeland security pick came during an exchange with Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who argued that to “fully control” the border, the legal immigration system needs to be fixed.
“We need more resources," Noem said. "Immigration has always been a part of our history and will be a part of our future. We just need to make sure that we’re adhering to our nation’s laws.”
Budget shortfalls have hindered the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to deal with immigration in the past year, NBC News has previously reported.