Kristi Noem Stunned as Trump DOJ Opens Door to Criminal Charges

Summary

Legal AF by MeidasTouch — Episode Summary
Episode Title: Kristi Noem Stunned as Trump DOJ Opens Door to Criminal Charges
Date: March 17, 2026
Hosts: Michael Popok (primary/solo host for this segment)

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Overview

This Legal AF episode, helmed by Michael Popok, dives into the explosive developments surrounding former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The episode scrutinizes newly intensified scrutiny from the DOJ, prompted by House and Senate Democrats, over Noem’s alleged false testimony to Congress regarding a $220 million ad campaign. Popok hones in on how public comments from Trump DOJ’s Jeanine Pirro may inadvertently bolster calls for a criminal probe, and examines the intersecting legal, political, and ethical dimensions that could define the next stage of the so-called “MAGA corruption saga.”

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Potential Criminal Case Against Kristi Noem

• Criminal Liability Triggered: Popok outlines that recent remarks by DOJ’s Jeanine Pirro — who vocally called for investigations into federal cost overruns — have, perhaps unintentionally, set a precedent forcing the DOJ to also investigate Kristi Noem’s actions (02:46).
• Allegations Identified:
  • Lying to Congress about a $220M ad campaign, with $140M allegedly benefitting her associates.
  • False claims regarding the competitive bidding process for contracts.
  • Misstatements about the power and involvement of Corey Lewandowski (an alleged romantic partner) in the contract process.
  • Falsifying compliance with federal court orders regarding DHS activities.
• Quote:

  "Did Donald Trump and his D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro just open the door to a criminal prosecution of disgraced former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for lying to Congress earlier this month?" — Michael Popok (02:46)

2. The Role of DOJ Officials and Trump’s Legal Posture

• Jeanine Pirro’s “Unhinged” Press Conference:
  • Pirro complains about being blocked from prosecuting Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell over construction overruns, illustrating the DOJ's selective outrage — and giving Democrats ammunition for a Noem probe (05:52).
  • Quote:

    “One of the age old tools that all prosecutors have to investigate any crime, including cost overruns, is a grand jury subpoena.” — Jeanine Pirro, paraphrased by interviewer (05:52)

• Trump’s Reluctance: When confronted with inquiries about the ad campaign’s approval, Trump acts evasive, contradicting Noem’s claim of his endorsement and hinting at Noem being on her own legally and politically (06:53–07:12).

3. Congressional Testimony and Noem's Contradictory Statements

• Dissection of Testimony:
  • Kristi Noem repeatedly claims she, Lewandowski, and allied staff had "no involvement" or influence in the $220M contract, but then admits the contract was not competitively bid when directly challenged (09:16–11:20).
  • Lawmakers highlight the implausibility of a newly-incorporated, obscure company receiving the lion’s share of the contract funds, drawing attention to apparent favoritism and lack of oversight (12:18–13:56).
• Memorable Exchange:

  "The company [that received $143 million] has never done work for the federal government before... incorporated eight days before this contract went out." — Senator (12:53)

4. Legal Framework & Political Fallout

• Statute and Precedent:
  • 18 USC § 1001: Section prohibiting lying to Congress; 5-year statute of limitations applies (14:00+).
  • Even if pardoned, Popok argues, a criminal investigation (or forced pardon) exposes political corruption and damages MAGA credibility for the public record.
  • Quote:

    “Some people are like, well, she'll never get justice because she'll be pardoned. But what we want is the destruction of the MAGA party.” — Michael Popok (14:30)

• Lies Under Oath:
  • Repeated specific cases where Noem claimed full compliance with court orders, which is flatly contradicted by federal judges’ findings (15:00+).

5. The Mount Rushmore Ad Campaign & Cronyism

• Visual Evidence and Connections:
  • Play-by-play dissection of Noem’s own promotional ad (17:34), with Popok pointing out that the strategy group behind it is run by her ex-spokesperson’s family—fueling claims of self-dealing.
  • Recap of the chain of lies concerning citizen detentions, facility conditions, and contract awards.
• Quote:

  “Apparently the Agency Strategy Group, that's what it was called, which handled the Mount Rushmore shoot and got $130 million of the $220 million. Hard to believe these numbers... her family owns that company." — Michael Popok (17:45)

6. Outcome and Broader Impact

• Next Steps:
  • Predicts that the case will (or should) be handed to a special counsel, and that further Congressional grilling awaits DOJ leaders if they attempt to stonewall.
  • Historical consequence is emphasized over legal retribution: lasting reputational damage for Noem, anyone involved, and ultimately for Trump’s MAGA project (18:00–19:00).
• Quote:

  “Yes, she may be pardoned, but history will not pardon her, nor... any of this administration. And we'll make them pay at the poll and in history.” — Michael Popok (18:55)

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On legal strategy backfiring:
  “Thank you, Janine Pirro. Thank you, Donald Trump. Thank you.” — Michael Popok (03:30)
• On the core violation:
  “You’re not allowed to lie under oath to senators and congresspeople... trying to provide oversight over you...” — Michael Popok (04:00)
• On the competitive bidding process:
  “The next day... she had to admit that it was not competitively bid. So she lied.” — Michael Popok (10:59)
• On the symbolic stakes:
  “The political capital that Donald Trump's going to have to expend in order to give a pardon to every member of his cabinet, will be the final cherry on the top.” — Michael Popok (14:40)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:46] — Intro to the Kristi Noem investigation and DOJ context
• [05:52] — Jeanine Pirro’s press conference underscores prosecutorial standards
• [06:53]–[07:12] — Trump’s evasive response about approving campaign spending
• [09:16]–[10:59] — Noem’s congressional testimony, detailed Q&A on contract process
• [12:18]–[13:56] — Congressional critique: expose of the contract award process
• [14:00] — Detailed explanation of 18 USC § 1001 and legal consequences
• [15:00] — Analysis of Noem’s claims about court order compliance
• [17:34] — Clip of Noem’s ad and follow-up on cronyism
• [18:55] — Popok summarizes the political and historical impact

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Conclusion

Michael Popok’s rapid-fire, sardonic breakdown draws a clear throughline from Jeanine Pirro’s public grandstanding to possible criminal peril for Kristi Noem. The episode offers detailed evidence suggesting perjury and political favoritism, analyzes the legal impact of new congressional pressure, and places the events within the context of broader MAGA-world corruption. Popok reminds listeners that while legal accountability may end in a pardon, the real victory is exposing the extent of corruption and holding the movement historically responsible.

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For further resources and links to court filings, listeners are encouraged to visit the Legal AF Substack.

Transcript

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[Michael Popok]

Did Donald Trump and his D.C. u.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, just open the door to a criminal prosecution of disgraced former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for lying to Congress earlier this month? Now that the Senate and House Democrats have called on the Department of Justice to open up a criminal investigation, about four separate categories of lies that they claim Kristi Noem made about a $220 million ad campaign, that 140 million of which ended up in the pockets of people that she's close to, whether she lied about her relationship with Corey Lewandowski and his power to approve contracts, whether she lied about the Department of Homeland Security violating federal court orders and the rest. And my question here on the Midas Touch Network, did Jeanine Pirro, the inexperienced prosecutor but Trump ally, open the door for this prosecution at a press conference, an unhinged press conference just in the last 24 hours in which she said that the cost overruns of the construction project for the Federal Reserve warranted a criminal investigation because of the waste of taxpayer dollars, Then what would you call the 2 million spent on a Mount Rushmore horse and pony show starring Kristi Noem in which she lied, according to Donald Trump, lied about getting his approval for it, lied about it being competitively bid. There's more, there's more evidence here to support a grand jury subpoena than against Jay Powell. Thank you, Janine Pirro. Thank you, Donald Trump. Thank you. AUDIENCE From Midas Touch Network, I'm Michael Popak. Let's talk about a new letter just came out from the House and Senate Democrats led by Dick Durbin and Blumenthal on the Senate side, Jamie Raskin on the House side, demanding a criminal investigation be opened about Kristi Noem. You could do a lot of things politically in an ad campaign, but you're not allowed to lie under oath to senators and congresspeople trying to provide oversight over you about key and fundamental issues about how you're spending or wasting the taxpayers dollars, who you're in bed with, literally related to contracting, whether you're violating court orders and the rest. Now, let me, let me frame this for you just in the last 24 hours. Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney Tar Tar for me to form that sentence, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia said this about being angry and upset with Jeb Boasberg, the chief judge in D.C. not allowing her criminal prosecution of Jay Powell for construction overruns to go forward. Here's what she said. And listen to how it frames the issue for Kristi Noem. And and compels a prosecution of Kristi Noem. Play it.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

The American public is fed up with public monies that seem to go into a black hole, especially in D.C. where no one is held accountable. One of the age old tools that all prosecutors have to investigate any crime, including cost overruns, is a grand jury subpoena.

[Michael Popok]

I don't believe anything happens by accident in the Trump administration. Not somebody so close to Donald Trump as Jeanine Pirro. Because Donald Trump's trying to dig out from under the Kristi Noem issue. Right. Doesn't like to talk about it. Back when he was asked about it in an interview, he said after being informed that Kristi Noem said that the president had approved the $220 million budget for the ad campaign starring Kristi Noem. He said, I didn't approve it. In fact, he can't wait to get off the topic. Here's a clip of Donald Trump.

[Interviewee/Guest]

Is it possible to stay on this subject just for once?

[Michael Popok]

Tell us what went into your decision

[Kristi Noem]

decision to replace Secretary Noem with Senator Markwain Mullen.

[Interviewee/Guest]

Is it possible to stay on this subject just for once? You know, just for once? Boy, oh boy. Anybody have any questions on this subject?

[Michael Popok]

Does that sound like somebody that's got the back of Kristi Noeman? Nor should he. March 3rd and March 4th. We watch with rapt attention as Kristi Noem took her chair, swore an oath that she would tell the truth, and then lied. And particularly she lied about a number of categories of things. She lied about how much power an unpaid leader named Corey Lewandowski, who apparently she's dating, how much power he had over contracts ProPublica reporting that he was on the routing sheet to sign off on all contracts of a certain dollar amount. She lied about that. She lied about how many and whether the Homeland Security Department was complying with federal orders of judges or not. How many violations of orders have there been? She lied and said we comply with the law. Really? Then where was she when Judge Schultz, the chief judge in Minneapolis, cataloged at least 220 violations by ICE and Border Patrol of orders in his district alone? Where was she when a judge in New Jersey, federal judge, cataloged up to 100 violations of federal orders by her department? Judge Schultz went as far as to say that he believes in the history of America, Homeland Security has violated more orders in the month of January than some cabinet level positions have violated their entire existence. But then here's the but here's the one you might be wondering what hanged her with all of that, what was the final straw? Yeah, throwing Donald Trump under the bus and lying about whether the $220 million of an ad campaign was competitively bid or not. Here's what she told Senator Schiff about competitive bidding and just said it was just a coincidence that a fair share of that $220 million ended up in the company of somebody that she's close with and one of her closest advisors family owns it. Play the clip.

[Ad Voice 1]

So it's just a coincidence that $143 million subcon contract went to the husband of your press person, also someone that Corey Lewandowski, one of your special government employees, worked with extensively. So that was all a coincidence. Right? Because you had no knowledge of this,

[Kristi Noem]

no media company, that none of the

[Ad Voice 1]

people around you had any involvement.

[Kristi Noem]

The ability to change.

[Ad Voice 1]

The taxpayers should just assume we don't

[Kristi Noem]

weigh in coincidence on who subcontractors are. There's not a legal process for us to determine what subcontractors are a part of a contract that goes out for a competitive bid. Can you state, and only career employees at DHS were in on the choosing

[Ad Voice 1]

for the record then that neither you nor Mr. Lewandowski nor your press secretary married to the husband of the person who got this $143 million?

[Kristi Noem]

We were not a part of the

[Ad Voice 1]

decision, for the record, that none of you that I've just described had any role, played any part, made any communication with any government agency that was involved in deciding who would get that contract.

[Kristi Noem]

To the best of my knowledge, none of us were involved in deciding who got those contracts for this.

[Ad Voice 1]

But were any of you involved in advocating, communicating or expressing a preference?

[Kristi Noem]

Not to my knowledge.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

In any way?

[Kristi Noem]

Not to my knowledge.

[Ad Voice 1]

Excuse me, Let me just finish the question. Were any of you involved in any way in communicating, expressing a preference in any form, manner, verbal, written, with any government agency that was involved in the contracting process?

[Kristi Noem]

The same process was followed for that contract, that is media contracts that have gone forward. To my knowledge, there was no involvement whatsoever of anybody that is on the political appointee side of this position and that media contract.

[Michael Popok]

The next day when the House Representative Negus or Negusi started to ask her questions, she had to admit that it was not competitively bit. See, we like large dollar contracts to be competitively bid to make sure the taxpayer gets the lowest cost provider. She had to admit that it wasn't. So she lied. Let's play that clip.

[Interviewee/Guest]

You have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently and you're Saying that you're testifying that President Trump approve this ahead of time.

[Kristi Noem]

We had conversations about making sure that we were telling people no, Ma', am,

[Interviewee/Guest]

sorry to interrupt, but the President approved ahead of time. You spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently.

[Kristi Noem]

Yes, sir. We went through the legal processes. Did it correct?

[Interviewee/Guest]

Yes, he did.

[Michael Popok]

Even Senator Kennedy? No, not that one. In Louisiana, a MAGA senator who later said she was about as dead as fried chicken, said he could not believe his ears when she tried to claim that Donald Trump approved that $220 million contract. Play Senator Kennedy.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

That's inaccurate. Madam. Madam Secretary, I'll read from the notice from your agency. Given the immediate action to significantly reduce illegal immigration and border crossing crossings. DHS invited. Excuse me. Identified four companies, four of the hundreds of thousands of companies in the United States. You identified four. One of those is this Safe America Media company. Where's Safe America Media headquartered?

[Kristi Noem]

I don't know.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

I don't know either. Madam Secretary. We can't find it. We can't find a website. We did find an address that's registered for this company. Do you know where that address is?

[Kristi Noem]

Is there a problem with this contract?

[Interviewer/Questioner]

I'll tell you about it, Madam Secretary. The address registered to a political operative. Madam Secretary, the company, and then I'll give you an opportunity to respond. The company is registered to a political operative in Virginia. Do you know, just by way of example, whether this company that received $143 million in taxpayer dollars, has it ever done work for the government before?

[Kristi Noem]

I don't know. I can't.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

The answer is it has not. And do you know why we know that? Because it was incorporated eight days days before this contract went out. You want the American people to believe that this is all above board? That $143 million of taxpayer money just happened to go to this one company that doesn't have a headquarters, doesn't have a website, has never done work for the federal government before and is registered, apparently, or attached to a residence from a political operative. And of course, one of the subcontractors of that contract, as you know, is a political firm that's tied to to you back when you were governor of South Dakota.

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[Kristi Noem]

Why do I love these wide open spaces? They remind me of why our forefathers came here, not just for its beauty, but for the freedom only America provides. I'm Kristi Noem.

[Michael Popok]

Apparently the Agency Strategy Group, that's what it was called, which handled the Mount Rushmore shoot and got $130 million of the $220 million. Hard to believe these numbers is close to Christy NOEM and Tricia McLaughlin, her former spokesperson. Her family owns that company. So now you know why. When she first gave her response, and then she had to change it to send it to Congressperson Nagusi, she also lied about US citizens being detained or deported under her policies and lied about detention conditions in ICE facilities and Homeland Security facilities. What's going to happen. What should happen is that, Chris, is that Kristi Noem will be. Her case will be forwarded to a special counsel by Pam Bondi, the head of the Department of Justice. And if she doesn't, which she won't, when Pam Bondi is back before the House Judiciary and Senate Judiciary Committees under oath herself, it'll set her up for a series of lies that she'll have to make to save her own hide again. Yes, she may be pardoned, but history will not pardon her, nor be kind to her, nor to Kristi Nobe or anybody else in this administration. And we'll make them pay at the poll and in history. I'm glad you're here on the Midas Touch Network. Come over to Legal AF YouTube channel, which we do in collaboration with Midas Touch. Hit that free subscribe button. We got over a dozen new videos every day, all for you. All we ask for is your support with a free subscription. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popo.

[Legal AF Host]

Can't get your fill of Legal af.

[Michael Popok]

Me neither.

[Legal AF Host]

That's why we formed the Legal AF sub stack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do called Wait for it Morning af.

[Michael Popok]

What else?

[Legal AF Host]

All the other contributors from ligalayoff are there as well. We got some new reporting, we got interviews, we got ad free versions of the podcast and hot takes where legal AF on substack. Come over now to free subscribe

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