Ex-GOP staffer flags 'most damning part' of Kristi Noem's brutal Senate grilling

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was shredded during Senate questioning on Tuesday, former Trump administration DHS staffer Miles Taylor told MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday — and, incredibly, he argued, the worst part wasn't even getting chewed out by a Republican senator for literally shooting a puppy.

"The person most culpable for the lowest approval ratings Trump has ever had since he descended the escalator is Kristi Noem," said Wallace. "I mean, I think 100 percent of Americans probably agree nothing other than shooting and murdering a puppy is sick. When that is being raised by members of your own party in televised hearings, how much of that does Donald Trump tolerate?"

"You know, I don't know," said Taylor. "I mean, Donald Trump, if he cares about anything besides his own self-interest, Nicolle, he cares about telegenic and he cares about optics. And it's evident that he didn't hire Kristi Noem for her national security chops. He hired her for some other reason, and she's not really delivering the photo-ops he wants anymore. She's delivering really bad photo-ops and really bad news stories. So I've got to think that's why we've heard leaks out of the White House for months about the fact that Kristi Noem might be on the chopping block. There's no coincidence there."

Trump has publicly said he is satisfied with the job Noem is doing, Taylor added, but "I've seen that story before where he pretends to be happy with a Cabinet secretary and where he secretly leaks against them. That's what he does to keep them on their toes."

"But I actually think it wasn't even the puppy stuff, Nicolle, that was the most damning part of this hearing," said Taylor. "I mean, the most damning part was the fact that it was clear that Kristi Noem has no idea what is happening in her own building. She repeatedly said in this hearing that she was unaware of specific abuses and specific incidents. And I got to tell you, I helped run that place. The Secretary of Homeland Security gets briefed on all of these things of consequence, including things she kept denying that she knew about."

"If she doesn't know that some of these things are happening in her department, some of the abuses ... some of the deaths in her custody, then one of two things is true, Nicolle," said Taylor. "Either her staff is hiding them from her, or she is hiding those things from us, and neither answer is acceptable. Both of those answers would tell us something about her leadership of the department, and [Senator] Cory Booker nailed it in that hearing when he said she is either incompetent or corrupt; there is no third option."

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