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Pod Force One
On Patrol with Kristi Noem: Busting Illegal Aliens, FEMA Porn Pervs & Why She Shot Her Dog
00:57:52
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- [00:02]
Miranda Devine
Welcome to the PodForceOne podcast. I'm Miranda Devine, and this week I'm coming to you from Chicago, Illinois. I've just finished a law enforcement ride along with Secretary of Homeland Security Christy Noem. Under her leadership, 400,000 illegal alien criminals have been deported so far of the 20 million or so that came in under the Biden administration. And so far, 2.2 million aliens have self deported. She now joins us for an interview. Thank you, Secretary Noem, for spending time with us and also for taking us out on that security immigration raid. The operation, and it was very successful. You got five people, I think, including the subject. Tell us a little bit about why you went after that person and what you found.
- [00:58]
Christy Noem
So we went out with some specialty teams within CBP and also BORTAC operations to target an individual that had assault on his background. We also had individuals affiliated with them that were had felony stalking, a dui. Individuals that were in this country illegally have been here. Some of them had been deported previously and had come back during the Biden administration. And. But the one particular subject we were going after was a violent assault. And when we got to the home this morning, we did confirm that he was there. And there was other individuals in the home as well that had committed crimes, and we're thankful to get them off the streets here in Chicago. That's one of the things that this community has struggled with, is having people who continuously perpetuate crimes against these communities. And if you think about that community we were in, it looked like a nice, safe neighborhood where families would be walking their kids down to school or, you know, and taking them going to work in the morning. And to have criminals living next door is something that had to disturb some of them.
- [02:09]
Miranda Devine
It's frightening. And I mean, it seemed that every time that you do one of these raids, you find multiple people with multiple criminal records and some quite disturbing. There's a lot of. Not in this one this morning, but child sexual abuse cases. Why there's so many.
- [02:30]
Christy Noem
You know, what I would say is we just had an invasion over our southern border the last several years under the Biden administration and incredible amounts of criminals and gang members, foreign terrorist organizations took advantage of that, were able to come in and set up shop in these communities and build networks. So that's one of the things that these officers do, is they do incredible casework and investigations and find a target that they want to remove from this country because of their dangerous background. But typically they're surrounded by other criminals, other individuals that are a part of their network and helping them to take advantage of these people. And so we need to. What's happening, what's helpful is when we do these operations, it usually leads to more and more arrests.
- [03:14]
Miranda Devine
Yes. And I mean, it's quite dangerous. This morning we were lucky enough to travel with you and your officers when you raided this house in suburban Chicago and you had over 100 officers and they were heavily armed. You had to break down the front door. It was really almost military operation. And because of the threat, I guess, to your officers.
- [03:42]
Christy Noem
Well, yeah, they are in situations where somebody's got to have their back. And here in Chicago in particular, the mayor doesn't and the governor doesn't. In fact, he's more than happy to dox them and to release their identities and to target them and attract more violence towards their operations. So we have to make sure that we're sending our officers out with someone who will make sure that they can do these types of operations safely and that they get to go home to their families at night. I think you were in the briefing room ahead of time when we were talking about the subjects that we were going to go pick up. You looked around that room, it was filled with young people doing their jobs, thankful they get to do their jobs with President Trump. But I look around those rooms and I think they've got kiddos at home and they've got a mom and dad that, that care that when they took that oath to step up and to serve and to do their job, that I'm going to do my very best as secretary to make sure they go home at night.
- [04:42]
Miranda Devine
It's an enormous amount of resources to pour into just one person. And I mean, is it going to be possible to get rid of the 20 million or however many illegal migrants came in during the four years of the Biden administration? With that many resources, we're going to hit it hard.
- [05:05]
Christy Noem
We're going to keep coming with a hammer at these criminals. You know, if you ask a victim's family if it's worth it, they would say it would be worth it if they could have their daughter back, if they could have their son back. So, you know, you can't put a price on somebody's life like that. And then also just the ability to live in peace. That's one of the things I was talking to the president about is, you know, in D.C. it was so crime ridden and him coming in and really helping that city so much. It took a few days for people to remember what it felt like to be free. You know, it took a while for people to walk down the street and realize, oh, I haven't been able to, you know, do this in so long. I forgot how good it felt to take my kids to a park or to enjoy a restaurant. And that's what I think the people of Chicago deserve. They deserve to know what it's like to live in America again, and they haven't done it for so long. In fact, what bothers me the most about Chicago and about this governor and what he's done is most of these communities that are so covered up in crime and violence and people get shot and killed every weekend is they're minority communities. They're minority communities. People that. Who fights for them. And, you know, you may have a wealthy community down the street that seems safer, but then if you go to a different community here in Chicago and they don't have that wealth or they don't have that security and protection, who's going to give them a shot at going to work without losing everything that they have or getting carjacked? So that's what President Trump is fighting for. He's fighting for every single community in the city of Chicago to have safety again.
- [06:45]
Miranda Devine
And you spoke to him last night, I believe.
- [06:47]
Christy Noem
Yeah, we were in the White House. He signed an executive order on going into Memphis and partnering there with local and state law enforcement and the governor on bringing some safety. You know, Memphis has been a train wreck for years. Very poor leadership. And people are so happy that he's going there. And it was fun to. To see the senators and the governor. Just thankful that somebody was listening to them and that Memphis was going to finally get some help.
- [07:14]
Miranda Devine
Yeah. And I know speaking to some of the Border Patrol agents this morning, they mentioned what a relief it is to have a secretary who has their back. Yeah. And they're very grateful for it, and particularly after the years with Mayorkas under Joe Biden. And I think Mayorkas was probably your predecessor, the most militant ideologue in the Biden administration. What kind of legacy do you think he left behind? What have you uncovered?
- [07:46]
Christy Noem
Well, they didn't do much for the border. He didn't do anything. I mean, I think one of the biggest disservices they did to the country was not fulfill the mission of what the department was established for. It literally is to secure the homeland. And he opened the doors and said, come on in. If you are from an evil foreign government or a terrorist organization or a gang, you're more than welcome, and we're going to ignore our laws and treat you better than we do the American citizens. So he. I don't know. You know, during the transition, he. He and I talked quite a bit. He was calling me quite a bit and asking if I needed advice or if I needed information. And we haven't since. I've been sworn in as much. But I think that he was. I think he was told to. From the White House to take direction, but I don't know. I don't know how he slept at night. I don't know how he slept at night knowing the vulnerabilities he was creating for this country and. And the people he was letting in and allowing to undo us.
- [08:51]
Miranda Devine
But they didn't even try to close the border.
- [08:54]
Christy Noem
No, didn't even try. That's what I think. Knowing you were doing nothing and watching. If you watched the inhumanity of what was happening at the border, I mean, we knew children were going missing. We knew they were raping our girls at the border and trafficking our little boys, and they knew all that was going on and. And watch the same child cross the border over and over again with a different group of adults. And they just went to bed at night. And that's. As a mom and a grandma, that's the stuff that I just. I don't know how they did that. I don't know how they sat there and facilitated that.
- [09:31]
Miranda Devine
And you think there's no way they didn't know?
- [09:33]
Christy Noem
Oh, no. There's no way you could have known. We've got so much information and data in the Department of Homeland Security. They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew exactly what they were doing.
- [09:43]
Miranda Devine
And how did they justify not doing anything about it?
- [09:46]
Christy Noem
I don't know. I mean, that's the part of. There's a part of me that believes in all people. There's good, and I'm sure there's good, but I haven't found it yet. They, even within the Department of ice, closed the victim's office. There was an office that was opened under the first Trump administration that was there as a resource for families that lost somebody to illegal criminal activity or were victimized by it, or had they closed it so that nobody would be talking to those families, and there could be no data collected on how much criminal activity there was by illegal aliens. If you don't have any data, there's no problem. If you don't have victims reporting things. And they were so. They were even that thoughtful in their approach as to covering up their tracks that they chose to close down offices that were there to serve people so that the data couldn't be collected to show what a disaster they were.
- [10:45]
Miranda Devine
The morale must have been really rock bottom. And I know talking to some of the agents, they really felt, you know, quite unprotected by the administration. And I'm thinking in particular about the incident with the horses when, you know, Joe Biden himself and Mayorkas claimed that the Border Patrol agents were whipp migrants with the reins of their horses. And have you talked to any of those?
- [11:14]
Christy Noem
I did. I went down there and rode horse with them for a day because, well, obviously I like to ride horse. But they. I went right away, as soon as I was sworn in to go spend time with them because they were so demonized to the American public and their leadership did that to them. And I just wanted them to know that their previous leadership had ridden over them. But I was going to ride with them and I was going to be a part of helping them do their jobs again.
- [11:45]
Miranda Devine
And what was their reaction to you?
- [11:47]
Christy Noem
Oh, they were. They were just so relieved. You know, there's. When you step up to serve as a law enforcement officer, you take an oath and take a pledge, you know, to protect the country and protect people and serve the public, which is why we were all created, was to serve each other. So they mean it when they commit their life to this. And to have a leader tell you you can't do that. It wasn't just about getting a paycheck for them. For them, it was a life choice and a purpose and they weren't allowed to do that. They were so relieved.
- [12:20]
Miranda Devine
And to be suspended and have the country told that you were whipping migrants?
- [12:25]
Christy Noem
Absolutely no. They are thrilled that they have a president that is giving them the resources that they need, letting them do their jobs and do it in a way with excellence that they know. Now, most people don't talk about this, but these Border Patrol agents live in those communities. They live in El Paso. They've grown up there. Their parents and grandparents are still there, live in Del Rio. And so they've watched their communities change. They've watched when it was a safe, small little town that everybody knew each other to get invaded by criminal activity and destroyed. They're so thankful that they see that reversing. Isabelle Brown. Isabel Brown. Isabel Brown. The wait is almost over. She's joining Daily Wire plus with the Isabelle Brown Show. Cannot wait for you guys to see how hard we've been working. I could not be more excited for this new adventure. You can expect larger than life guests, deeper questions to the nerds. Maybe meeting The President of the United States and the Vice President. And now, meeting our new American Pope. This is crazy. Let's jump in. Join me every weekday for the Isabel Brown show on Daily Wire plus or wherever you get your podcasts. Running a business comes with a lot of what ifs, but luckily, there's a simple answer to Shopify. It's the commerce platform behind millions of businesses, including Thrive Cosmetics and Momofuku. And it'll help you with everything you need, from website design and marketing to boosting sales and expanding operations. Shopify can get the job done and make your dream a reality. Turn those what ifs into sign up for your $1 per month trial@shopify.com specialoffer.
- [14:07]
Miranda Devine
And now your portfolio is enormous. And part of it is the Quiet Skies program at tsa. And you've now abandoned that. And you're discovering something, I think, about how it was used politically by the Biden administration. Tell us what you found.
- [14:27]
Christy Noem
Well, TSA has had this program called Quiet Skies. And what it did was put people that were suspicious that as deemed by those in leadership on a list that they may be followed by U.S. marshals, that that they may be tracked or their travel patterns would be discerned. And, you know, we've heard a lot of discussion about Tulsi Gabbard, who was a victim of this program. Just meant something. Yes, it was meant for terrorists, but instead it was used politically against people that maybe those in leadership disagreed with. And then there was also a list within Quiet Skies that was the do not touch list. So anybody that they wanted on that list that they didn't want to ever be stopped for any reason was put on there. Oh, I think it's up to the president. That'll all be released. And I think we've turned a lot of this information over to senators as well that are doing work in this area. But it may be reporters, it could be political people, friends, lobbyists, actors.
- [15:33]
Miranda Devine
So never touch them.
- [15:34]
Christy Noem
Sports individuals. You know, it was Hunchbad. Yeah. No matter what, when they go through, they can never be stopped. So as soon as I became secretary, we went to work on this program and have just completely eliminated that. And that was weaponized against individuals that people agreed with or didn't agree with and made their lives much more difficult or helped those who never should have been given special privileges.
- [16:01]
Miranda Devine
And do you know anybody else other than Tulsi Gabbard from, you know, the Republican side who was targeted?
- [16:07]
Christy Noem
Oh, my goodness. Quiet Skies program. I mean, I have binders full of names that were on that program. So it is thousands of names.
- [16:19]
Miranda Devine
And who do you think directed it? Was this, you know, a whole administration? Any enemy they had, they put on the program or is Mayorkas running it?
- [16:29]
Christy Noem
Well, ultimately the TSA is under the Department of Homeland Security, so he would have been involved unless he had given that delegation authority over to subordinates below him. But I believe that many of those names would have come from somebody within the administration or within the White House under the Biden administration.
- [16:49]
Miranda Devine
And is there any recourse? Can anyone be.
- [16:52]
Christy Noem
You know, I think that with a lot of this coming to light that there should be. I haven't spent the time to figure out what all of the consequences of this are. The Department of Justice decides prosecution on a lot of different subjects that I make decisions on every day and we'll work with them to make sure the right thing is done.
- [17:13]
Miranda Devine
And is that the only sort of nefarious thing that you've uncovered from the previous administration?
- [17:21]
Christy Noem
I would say no, that every different agency has something in it. I tell fema FEMA has been unbelievable in its inability to, you know, just take care of people on their worst day. And we've been worked hard in FEMA to make sure that we're bringing some integrity back to the agency. There's a lot of good people that work in FEMA they care about, but there was a lot of people in there too that wouldn't help individuals if they didn't agree with them politically. We saw that in North Carolina, we saw it in Florida that people would walk right by Trump supporters homes and not give them help with case management during a disaster situation and help them recover. We also saw grants go to specific areas more than others. And we really need that agency should not be the prisons. Talked about extensively that he doesn't think it should continue to exist the way that it is, that it should be there for a disaster, but that local leaders should run this emergency effort when something is hit. And FEMA is responsible for the continuation of government. So something happens in this country that's just horrific. That agency is entrusted with making sure that we have an electrical grid, that our water systems run, that we are protected and have a structure to our government. It has to have integrity and function correctly. And it shouldn't be still looking at claims 20 years later that it hasn't paid because of the bureaucracy and brokenness of it.
- [18:52]
Miranda Devine
And it was spending a fortune on illegal aliens, wasn't it?
- [18:57]
Christy Noem
Absolutely. It was taking FEMA shelter and services program grant dollars and using it to Shelter illegal aliens in hotels like in New York City at the Roosevelt Hotel.
- [19:08]
Miranda Devine
Yes.
- [19:09]
Christy Noem
Which was a hotel not even owned. I think it was owned in portion by a foreign government. So we were taking hundreds of millions of dollars to support illegal aliens that should have been going into helping with mitigation and disaster relief and helping communities heal.
- [19:25]
Miranda Devine
And you did fire someone from FEMA who was responsible for giving the order not to go and help out Trump supporters who had Trump signs in their front yards?
- [19:36]
Christy Noem
We did. We've. We've had to fire quite a few people in that agency for leaking information, for not securing. You know, it's the Department of Homeland Security, so it's our job to be a national security agency that protects people and their data and information. And FEMA hadn't put in based. Put basic security protocols around people's personal information. Those who had signed up for disaster programs, their addresses, their bank accounts, their information was all exposed to nefarious actors. And even just the other day, we had to fire a bunch of FEMA employees for being on porn sites at work, on their government computers many times a day. So instead of doing disaster claims, they were looking at pornography and spending hours a day doing that rather than taking care of people.
- [20:26]
Miranda Devine
How did you find that?
- [20:28]
Christy Noem
Because we are such an important agency and what we're entrusted with, we always are making sure that people are getting things accomplished, getting things done, that they're using their government devices appropriately. If you remember, in this country, we've had incredible hacking attempts and successful ones into our telecoms through Salt Typhoon Volt. Typhoon has been hacking attempts by the Chinese into our electrical grid. So we need to know what our employees are doing and if they're making us vulnerable 100%.
- [20:59]
Miranda Devine
Gosh, that's shocking. I wanted to ask you about Charlie Kirk, because I know you were close to him. He met your family and children. Tell us about the last message that you had from him.
- [21:13]
Christy Noem
Well, Charlie, yeah, he was. He was incredible. He's. I. It's. It still makes me so sad that it's hard to talk about just that. I don't know why it feels like such a heavy grief, but I think everybody's feeling that. The last message he had texted me was the day before he passed away, and it said we have to hold these mayors and local officials accountable for what they're doing. I think he was watching across this country as people were continuing to be victimized by illegal criminal activity, and he wanted someone to be held accountable. And so. And I was traveling and in meetings in a different time zone. And I didn't see it and missed it. And I will always feel bad that I didn't respond because I would have said, absolutely, I'm on it, which I am. And. But I think he knew that.
- [22:10]
Miranda Devine
And I mean, he was such a good hearted and dynamic person. And it's terrifying to think that this kind of violence is now targeting the right. I mean, how do you feel about this plea by the Democrats or demand by the Democrats really, that, you know, we talk about both sides and that Donald Trump unifies the country by calling out violence on both sides when really it's been violence by the left on conservatives, most, almost entirely in the last decade. What do you think about that? And can anything be done?
- [22:53]
Christy Noem
It can be. I think we are incredibly blessed that we have a president that speaks truth. To have someone that sits in that office and is out with people that will speak the truth to what is really happening in this country is powerful. And to have us go out and continue to point out the facts, which I think is important, that this American public is waking up and understanding. They're not going to get the truth from the media, they're not going to get the truth from unless they do their research and unless they know and they know that this has been an attack from liberal, leftist, extremist, radicalized individuals against conservatives trying to silence them. And we'll continue to be bold in saying that because until eyes are opened up to what's really happening in this country and how it's changing, we can't do better. You can't do better unless you really. One of the best things my parents ever taught me was that every day you can be teachable and you can always learn something from your greatest critic. You will get critics, and I certainly do, but even every one of them, you can look at what they're saying and what they're doing and learn from it. Now, what you might learn is that they're lying and it's not the truth. But if you can take what is being said and do better, that's an incredible gift that people should have in their lives. So I just am. The man who was one of the first supporters of Charlie was Foster Fries, who was a dear friend of mine as well. And is that how you miss that's how I met Charlie was through Foster. And Foster, I think, gave Charlie one of his first contributions to start Turning Point. So how old Foster's goal in life was for people to sit down and talk to each other that had differing opinions. He always wanted me to go have coffee with aoc because he felt like if you guys could just sit, you would probably find something in common that you could talk about. And I said, unfortunately, I don't know if anybody, if the public would give us that opportunity to do so and have a peaceful conversation. But I think that what is, you know, what's happened in this country is people quit talking to each other.
- [25:11]
Miranda Devine
Yes.
- [25:12]
Christy Noem
And then. And nobody listens anymore. You know, we get so busy being right and shouting at each other that we don't listen and hear. And that's what I was so impressed with Charlie and that he went into places that disagreed with him, had no problem having conversations with people that didn't think like he did. And. And we all got smarter and better and more knowledgeable because he did that.
- [25:38]
Miranda Devine
And he won a lot of hearts.
- [25:40]
Christy Noem
He did. He did. In fact, you know, I had a pastor years ago say something to me that changed my whole perspective because he said, Christy, people are gonna throw offenses out at you all the time. They're gonna. When you're in your day to day life, they're gonna throw an offense out at you, but you're the one who decides that you're gonna bend over, pick it up, and carry it around with you. He said. And then you're the one carrying the burden. So he said, you have the opportunity every single day to, when somebody offends you or throws that at you, to just let it lay and to walk right by and to not carry that offense with you. And so I do that every day in this job. I. We have too much to do to get offended by everything.
- [26:19]
Miranda Devine
Yes.
- [26:20]
Christy Noem
And we have to start talking to each other again.
- [26:22]
Miranda Devine
Yeah. And I mean, the sad thing, obviously the tragic thing is that Charlie was doing that. He was killed while doing that. And I mean, the. We don't know yet everything about the suspect, but it seems to be from that same strand of left wing, transgender related sort of terrorism that has also affected ice. From back in 2019, I think there was a fatal attack, a deadly attack on a Washington ICE office. And then just in January this year, this bizarre vegan transgender cult, I guess militia, murdered a border patrol officer. So is this something you are exercised about?
- [27:11]
Christy Noem
I think you have to know what the patterns are. You have to study them and to know where the danger would be for individuals and where the threats could come from. You do, as a leader and as someone with responsibilities, you have to look at what is happening. Yes. I would say that that, that is something that you have to evaluate and Consider. And then when you look at how we make policy in this country, how we make decisions, how we enforce the law, do what we can to protect those officers, our ICE officers have incredible threats against them right now. And a lot of it is because people that are struggling with mental issues or if they're struggling with being radicalized or a different philosophy, they're getting cover from the rhetoric that politicians and leaders across the country have given them by speaking that way. Democrats, it almost excuses some of the actions that have taken. So I think that these ICE officers have just done incredible work by continuing to go out there and do that. But attacks against them have gone up 1000% in just the since this administration started. Now, what I love also is that as the left and Democrats have tried to turn their work into something ugly and have tried to attack them and their families and dox them and put them in dangerous situations, is that the American people have seen right through it and they want to be a part of supporting our ICE officers and our law enforcement officers. In fact, just for the 10,000 new positions that we have, we have over 150,000 people that applied for those 10,000amazing position. So it's clear that everybody recognizes, you know, how important our law enforcement are and they want to be a part of the mission too.
- [29:07]
Miranda Devine
But have you actually looked into, or is this part of your policy to be concerned about this vegan transgender cult that's murdered one of your officers just a few months ago?
- [29:20]
Christy Noem
You know, I have under my department many different agencies. So I have, you know, fema, tsa, Secret Service, the Coast Guard. I also have ina, which is an intelligence agency that, that cooperates with, you know, ODNI and the FBI and all of that. So that coordination is always happening. And that's what I think is important about what President Trump has done. In the past. These intelligence agencies were a little siloed and didn't share information and data and looking into people and groups that are conducting some type of suspicious activity and doing that investigative work. Now that the President has established this whole of government approach, that kind of cooperation on investigations is critically important and much more efficient than it used to be.
- [30:09]
Miranda Devine
And the Secret Service, I mean, there's been huge amount of criticism, quite justly because of the lapses that led to Butler and the close to close assassination attempts on the President. Are you confident that that's being fixed and that he is protected enough, particularly in this heightened risk environment?
- [30:30]
Christy Noem
You know, the Secret Service are men and women who step up to not just do financial Investigations, but personal protective detail. And they take that very seriously. And Sean Kern's doing a great job running the Secret Service and he has implemented a lot of changes since he's been in place. You know, he's implemented more training. We're building out new facilities to train them for the environments they're in today. If you look at what protecting this president while he's living a 24 hour day is very different than protecting the last one. Yes, you know, it was, it was a very different situation to protect Joe Biden than it is to protect President Trump at all these large rallies and the events that he does. And as mobile as he is in the long days he puts in. So the changes that they're making are incredibly important to make sure they're prepared for all of that situation. And the transparency, you know, people need the transparency out of Secret Service to know. And the President needs it the most, though. It's, you know, he needs to trust them and he does.
- [31:37]
Miranda Devine
I mean, the fact that there were those protesters got into the restaurant in Washington D.C. the other night is disturbing though.
- [31:43]
Christy Noem
Well, we need to remember as well too that these protesters are not just average protesters we would have seen 10 years ago. They've become professional, they're funded, that they have been trained, that they know how to operate in ways of sophistication that five, six years ago they didn't. So to them, this is not a fun evening out speaking their free speech message that they hadn't thought of doing the day before. Many times these protesters are trained and funded and know exactly how to take advantage of situations. And so I've told so many people recently, it's not just, just protesters, but also we're seeing that level of sophistication in the cartels and gangs and cooperation with other governments overseas. And we need to be prepared to meet that technology that they're using and meet that sophistication that they've put in place.
- [32:45]
Miranda Devine
And I know the administration is looking into the funding of some of these protests, so called agitators.
- [32:52]
Christy Noem
Yes, I know that. Department of justice is looking into that and we'll continue to cooperate with them on information that we may be helpful on.
- [32:59]
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- [33:30]
Christy Noem
Recently we asked some people about sharing their New York Times accounts. My name is Dana. I am a subscriber to the New York Times but my husband isn't and it would be really nice to be able to share a recipe or an article or compete with him in wordle or connect connections. Thank you Dana. We heard you introducing the New York Times Family subscription one subscription, up to four separate logins for anyone in your life. Find out more@nytimes.com family.
- [34:02]
Miranda Devine
Tell us about your childhood growing up and the tragedy that befell you when your father passed away.
- [34:09]
Christy Noem
Well, I, from the time I was just a little girl, just wanted to be a farmer and a rancher like my dad. So I was very much a tomboy and just wanted to be with him outside all the time. So I was the little girl that, you know, collected animals and did chores and drove tractors and then went hunting with my dad all the time, too. So that was, you know, one of the reasons that I got through high school, went to college, was just so I could come back home and be a part of our business with him. So when I was in college, he was killed in an accident at the age of 49 on our farm. And that just, that changed everything for our family. You know, that's one of the things that with losing Charlie there, it just, there was a lot of it that felt familiar to losing my dad, the weight of it. Because there was when dad died, everything in our life became, you know, that was the day everything was different. So when we talk about it, well, that was before dad died. Well, that happened after dad died. Like, that was the day everything changed and will never be the same. So for me, when dad died, you know, I didn't know what the future looked like anymore. I quit college and came home. My sister was living in Georgia at the time, my older brother was in Oklahoma, and my younger brother was still in high school. So I quit school and came home and just started working on the farm and ranch every day. I was already married to Brian. And when dad passed away, I was eight months pregnant. Wow. And so we worked and eventually my sister moved home and my brother moved home as well. It took him, you know, a year or two to get there. But then after that, I was the general manager of the operation and we farmed together as a family for 20 years after that. So it was a really special time. But when dad was killed, we got hit with death. Taxes. So as I was trying to figure out how to keep our family business together, it was a large farming operation and we had a ranch. We had a lot of people working for us and depending on us. But at that time, the estate tax rate at the federal level was 55%. So if you can imagine, we had land and cattle. We have any money in the bank because most farmers and ranchers don't have cash. They have assets. And so I just could not believe that we had a tragedy in our family and lost our dad. And then all of a sudden, we owed the federal government all this money.
- [36:47]
Miranda Devine
Yes.
- [36:48]
Christy Noem
And it made me mad.
- [36:49]
Miranda Devine
Yeah.
- [36:49]
Christy Noem
So I just started showing up at meetings and I got passionate about tax reform. And Tom Daschle was the U.S. senate Majority Leader at the time, and he was from South Dakota. And I just started showing up at his meetings and talking about tax reform and how unfair the death tax was and how we were. If we had just had a gas station or a restaurant, we would have had to sell it to pay those taxes. And for me, I started new businesses, started custom combining. I started a hunting lodge. I started training horses and dogs to make extra money. I started doing all these businesses while raising our kids. And we had some kind wealthy farmers that. I got a bank to finance half of the taxes. These wealthy farmers loaned us the other half. But it took us 10 years to pay it off. Gosh, it took us 10 years to pay off those taxes. And so I.
- [37:42]
Miranda Devine
And that sparked and it made it.
- [37:43]
Christy Noem
Hard to keep our business. So that's. That's how I got involved in politics, was just showing up at meetings.
- [37:49]
Miranda Devine
Yeah.
- [37:50]
Christy Noem
And people kept then just asking me to run.
- [37:53]
Miranda Devine
Right.
- [37:54]
Christy Noem
Yeah. Right. Why don't you run for office? And eventually we did.
- [38:00]
Miranda Devine
And just back a little bit. You found a tape or some tapes in your dad's pickup truck.
- [38:06]
Christy Noem
Yeah.
- [38:07]
Miranda Devine
And tell us about that.
- [38:09]
Christy Noem
Well, my dad, he was like a typical rancher. Lived in his pickup. You know, his office was his pickup. So after he was killed, it took me a long time to clean out his pickup. It sat in the yard. And I would say it was. Man, it was several months, I think. And finally one day I decided I would go out and clean out his pickup and take everything out of it. And in his council by the front seat, as I was cleaning everything out and tools and notebooks and looking at all of his stuff, there was all these little tapes. And I thought that was strange in a little tiny tape recorder, a dictation tape recorder. So I put one in and started Playing it. And it was his voice. And he was talking into these tapes. And there was him talking about cows. Which breed of cows was doing better and which field, what soil type it had and how much rainfall it had gotten. And then there was tapes talking about the neighbors. What. What neighbors were helpful, which ones weren't necessarily. Which ones you could trust. And I just remember after dad passed away, I had so many questions for him. You know, I was running the business. I had hired men, I had to make decisions on seed and fertilizer and chemical. And I had, you know, people helping us, but also giving us advice and didn't know who to trust and. But in these tapes, even I found a tape that was probably 15 years old of him talking about his kids. What he thought our strengths were, what he thought our weaknesses were, what he thought we would grow up to be, what he thought was our downfall. He thought I was stubborn, a little bit too much like him. But, you know, I think what I realized then, sitting in that truck listening to those tapes, it was the answer to every single question I had wanted to ask my dad.
- [40:00]
Miranda Devine
Why do you think he made the tapes?
- [40:01]
Christy Noem
I don't have any idea. Because nobody knew he was making them. Nobody knew it was. And the last tape, he said himself, I don't know why I'm doing this. I'm going to go check cows. And it shut off. And that was the most recent tape. And I just. That's when I knew, we're going to be okay. God loves us so much. He literally just handed these tapes. Yes, these tapes for us. And it was his voice, which, you know, when somebody passes away, their voice is comforting. And I just. That was because up until that point, I think I had been living scared.
- [40:34]
Miranda Devine
Yes.
- [40:34]
Christy Noem
I don't want to lose our family business. I don't want to lose land.
- [40:37]
Miranda Devine
How old?
- [40:38]
Christy Noem
I don't. I was 22.
- [40:39]
Miranda Devine
Wow.
- [40:40]
Christy Noem
You know, had a brand new baby. And my mom said I wasn't that fun during that time. She said you were angry and. And not nice and all you did was work. You would drop that baby off at 5, 6am and you'd come back and get her at midnight.
- [40:56]
Miranda Devine
And.
- [40:57]
Christy Noem
And you just worked. She said you. You grieved and wouldn't talk to anybody about it. It was probably a couple of years before it finally caught up with me. But. But I think that those tapes just reminded me that, you know what? No matter what happens, God will provide. He will provide.
- [41:18]
Miranda Devine
Yeah. Amazing that your father made. Made them. Didn't know why, but it was so important?
- [41:23]
Christy Noem
Well, it's not his personality. So he was a doer and a decision maker and everybody better keep up or you'd be in trouble. So the fact that he did that when he was driving down the road was pretty remarkable.
- [41:34]
Miranda Devine
It's a wonderful story. Yeah. Why the switch to politics? I mean, was that, did that. Was it just that you felt that.
- [41:42]
Christy Noem
It was interesting or that you wanted.
- [41:43]
Miranda Devine
To change, change things?
- [41:45]
Christy Noem
Well, the, the state legislature in South Dakota is only a 40 day session and, and I had gotten, I had, after dad passed away, won an award that was South Dakota's Outstanding Young Farmer. Right. So I won that award and, and they put me on a couple of boards in the South Dakota Soybean board. And then I won the next year South Dakota's outstanding Young Leader. And then so they kind of put you and you serve and, and give input. I went to D.C. and worked on farm bills and policy just as a farmer. And then there was an opening for a legislature. It was 40 days a year. You go into session and then you go back home and work your job that pays your bills. And so I ended up running for that. And when I got there, saw that, got elected, that the leadership controlled everything. So I thought, well, if I'm going to be here and away from my kids and family for these days, then I'm going to run for leadership. So I got elected as the assistant majority leader and did that. And that was really, I think, when a lot of the pressure came to run for Congress. South Dakota has one congressman and so it's a statewide position. And at that time we were represented by a blue dog Democrat and we had, you know, a Democrat senator and they were trying to see if a Republican could represent us in the US House.
- [43:08]
Miranda Devine
So you won.
- [43:09]
Christy Noem
Yeah, that was a miserable race. I mean, campaigns are not fun sometimes if you're. Don't enjoy conflict. But that was one of the top, I think five races in the nation that year because she had a very high approval rating. You know, she was a young woman about my age at that time and you know, hadn't voted for Obamacare, which is, she hadn't voted for the stimulus package, which was so controversial. The only vote I could really go after her on was that she voted for Nancy Pelosi and I talked about that a lot and so. But it was a very contentious race and yes, ended up winning. And I remember that night we won, my husband and I were laying in bed and said, now what? Now we have to go to D.C. and we hadn't really anticipated that. Right.
- [44:08]
Miranda Devine
So amazing to win that. And then what was. You had eight years, I believe in D.C. i did.
- [44:16]
Christy Noem
I did. And I enjoyed that. Went back and forth. You know, our family did. Didn't live in D.C. but traveled back and forth, which the. The trip back to South Dakota from D.C. isn't exactly convenient and short, but. But there was an opportunity to run for governor of our state. And, you know, being in Congress is wonderful. You get to work on policy and give speeches and do press conferences. But governors are CEOs.
- [44:46]
Miranda Devine
Yeah.
- [44:46]
Christy Noem
And governors get to make decisions. But I knew that fit my personality better, and I knew that I would love the opportunity to do some things in South Dakota that really helped it grow, that helped our economy get going again and to really create new industries. Our state needed it for our kids to stay there and get jobs. So I ran for governor and ended up winning that race in 2018.
- [45:11]
Miranda Devine
And what industries did you bring?
- [45:13]
Christy Noem
Technology and cybersecurity.
- [45:14]
Miranda Devine
Right?
- [45:15]
Christy Noem
Yeah. We had agriculture as our number one industry and tourism is our second largest. But we needed some jobs that our kids wanted so they would stay. And we had a university that we established a cybersecurity presence at and then more than doubled it. And now we train specifically most of the quite a few of our national security folks in our agencies in South Dakota at this university, quite a few of our NSA employees and folks that go into protecting our infrastructure and grid and South Dakota. And the technology was something that we needed. We needed to keep our engineers, our computer programs and software, and some of the work that we needed to do to build out supporting businesses so they would sustain and thrive in South Dakota.
- [46:07]
Miranda Devine
And then during COVID I think you came to the fore because you, unlike a lot of other governors, you didn't lock people down and have mandates. That must have been a difficult decision. How did you come to it?
- [46:23]
Christy Noem
When Covid started to hit, we had known that it was overseas, that the virus was happening. We had talked about other states that were getting it. And so me and my legal team had talked about the facts that, you know, when it is shows up in South Dakota and we get our first cases, Governor, what do you. What do you want to do? And so we talked a lot. The questions that I had constantly were, I don't. Do I have the authority to close businesses in my state? Why do I not have the authority? What happens if I close a business and that business decides to sue me for a taking of their business? I would be liable. Then I would open the state up to to these litigation and liabilities. And that's not my job to make decisions for people. And so I was very clear from the beginning, I did not believe that I had the right to tell people mandate that they had to stay in their homes, that they had to close their businesses, and took a very firm stand on that. We never changed our way of life in South Dakota. Our kids continued to go to school and people went to work. And I gave them all the information that I had and told them I would, you know, equip them with everything that they would need, but I would let them take personal responsibility and that I would trust them to make the best decisions for them and their family. And South Dakota just thrived under that event. People so appreciated that they saw other states where people were getting arrested for going to the beach or, you know, they were. If they walked out of their front steps of their home, they were getting screamed at by soldiers to go back inside. So it was a very. And people. And then I decided to advertise South Dakota. This was our chance to tell our story. So we did national marketing campaigns telling people, if you want to feel free, come to South Dakota. And they did. We were covered up in people. And people came to visit with their families and were so changed by the experience. They went home and packed up and moved there.
- [48:28]
Miranda Devine
And why did you have the confidence? You know, you looked around at governors of bigger states like California. What gave you the confidence not to follow what they were doing?
- [48:39]
Christy Noem
I knew I was right. I just. There's. There's a part of me that when I make a decision, I'm confident in it. And I knew that I was right. And I was getting. If you remember Miranda, I was getting blown up on the national press every night. I mean, Rachel Maddow went after me on every single show. Elizabeth Warren was just attacking me. Saturday Night Live had skits of me being a vampire, and I was killing everybody. And I mean, it was. And it was really lonely. It was a lonely time because governors and leaders and we were all having conversations and you. And were on zoom calls and. Yeah, we were. But also, as political pressure kept growing all the time, there was less and less governors on those calls that were kind of still having the same battles and discussions keeping businesses open. But everybody was in a different situation, too. I had incredible healthcare workers in my state. I had incredible people that it was, you're making the decision, and we will support it and do what we can to take care of people. And they were incredible. South Dakota did some amazing things. During that time. And I think that testimony is why the state has continued to be so successful.
- [50:02]
Miranda Devine
And I think President Trump was impressed, of course, by that and your governance of the state. And he also once said something about. He said, I need someone for the. This job that you have dhs, someone who's tough and she's tough. And he's talked about the dog.
- [50:21]
Christy Noem
Oh, yes, yes, he does talk about that.
- [50:24]
Miranda Devine
He does talk about that. And it was a controversy for you and I guess blew up into something that probably you certainly didn't intend it to be. Tell us just briefly what happened and why. Why do you think people took it the way they did?
- [50:43]
Christy Noem
Well, you know, when you write a book, you put your lessons learned in good times, but hard times in books. And that story about this hunting dog had been used against me in political campaigns. People in the state knew it. They had tried to attack me with it. And I decided to tell the truth of the story story in the book because I wanted people to know that the kind of. That you have hard decisions in life, hard situations. And I absolutely love animals. I've always had dogs. I still have a dog that goes everywhere with me. And that situation there was hard and to. But I also don't ask anybody else to take on my responsibilities for me that I knew that if I had to take responsibility and do something for that situation to keep people safe, then I would do it myself and not ask somebody else to do my job. So that's why it was in the book. Yeah. You learn lessons from it.
- [51:54]
Miranda Devine
The dog was dangerous or you thought felt that it was going to be a dangerous dog.
- [52:00]
Christy Noem
Yeah, the dog was actively killing animals for fun. Had been massacring chickens and then had tried to bite me and attack me. And from working all the time with animals like that when, you know, and in our state and in states and across the country, too, that is something that happens from time to time. And keeping children and people safe is incredibly important. When at that time we had little kiddos around every single day in a hunting lodge, we were operating. And people that I knew that I needed to take responsibility for the situation.
- [52:43]
Miranda Devine
Yeah. So, I mean, that's something I think farmers understand. People on the land understand that you have to do that. But President Trump saw it as.
- [52:54]
Christy Noem
Yeah, well, I understand being tough, but I think, you know, everything, everything works out the way it's supposed to. I really do. You know, when I. He asked me after he won the election if I would be interested in being in his Cabinet, what position I would be Interested in, You know, I asked for Homeland Security.
- [53:13]
Miranda Devine
Why?
- [53:14]
Christy Noem
And. And he. He was a little surprised right away. He said, I didn't know you would be interested in that. Why would you be interested? And I said, sir, because you're going to have to have somebody who's tough enough to do it. It's going to be hard, and it's going to be something that we need to go after these criminals that are endangering our country and our people and remove them. And it's going to take a while, and you're going to have to have somebody who's tough enough to actually do it. But I said, I think it's also extremely helpful to have somebody in that job who's a wife and a mom and a grandma, because it will impact families. And you'll need somebody who can talk about it and that will visit with the American people about why we're doing what we're doing, and that will go out and tell the stories of all the victims and tell the stories of how it's endangering our national security. And I said, and I will do that for you. And at the end of the day, the work that we do today is about our kids. We shouldn't get up every day getting angry on behalf of ourselves. We should be getting angry on behalf of other people and working to help protect them. And I don't want to have my grandchildren think that their grandma left them a country that's worse off than she had. I had a pretty fantastic country to grow up in. My kids did, too. Every opportunity was available to me. I want to make sure that my grandkids get that same chance to live the American dream.
- [54:44]
Miranda Devine
And are you worried that it's slipping away?
- [54:47]
Christy Noem
I don't worry. I'm not worried and I'm not scared. I think we have to be careful what we say and speak. I don't spend my time worrying about it because I think we have the every minute we have worrying we could be doing. And so our country, we just don't talk enough about the blessings we have that just because we woke up here this morning, we are more blessed than 99% of the people in the world because we woke up in the United States of America. This country is still better than any other country I've ever heard of, seen, visited. It just doesn't. There's not another country that is better. So I. I just don't want to have to someday say to them, I, you know what? I could have done more. I could have done more. But Instead, I decided to go take a vacation or nap or decided I wanted to just go home and not have to make decisions and do that. So I want them to know that their grandma worked every day to make this country continue to be special. Now, last question.
- [55:53]
Miranda Devine
You've met a lot of stuff, successful people. You're very successful yourself. What are the secrets of success that you've noticed?
- [56:01]
Christy Noem
Well, most in today's day and age, you need to love people in order to sustain a world in politics. I think you really have to do enjoy being around people and wanting to do it for the right reason. I would say the secrets that I know of people that are successful are always prepared. They do their homework and they don't rely on somebody else to give them the right information. So for me, I always try to work harder than anybody else and to be prepared for every situation. And that will cover up a lot of other things in your life that you think you're not so skilled at. I don't think I'm all that have special gifts or talents. It's that I just work hard and try to be prepared for everything I'm going into so that I can contribute to the conversation. The most successful people that I've met are people who never lost sight of the fact that work ethic is important and that we were created to serve people. They had to have a purpose to their work, otherwise they burned out and quit or did something that caused them not to be able to sustain that success. Success. Terrific.
- [57:14]
Miranda Devine
Thank you very much.
- [57:15]
Christy Noem
Well, thank you.
- [57:16]
Miranda Devine
Wonderful to meet you and talk to you and spend time with you.
- [57:19]
Christy Noem
We'll do it again soon.
- [57:20]
Miranda Devine
Yeah, thanks. That's all for us today. We'll be back with more big interviews. Please hit the like and subscribe button so you don't miss any future episodes of Podforce One.