Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appeared to stumble over her words in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday as she claimed Americans “can’t trust the government.”
The State of the Union host quickly interrupted Noem to point out: “You are the government!”
During the interview, Noem acknowledged that President Donald Trump had given Musk full access to sensitive data about American disaster victims at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“We’re working with them at the president’s direction to find what we can do to make our department much more efficient,” Noem said. “So, this is essentially an audit of the federal government, which is, which is very powerful.”
“The president has authorized [Musk] to have access,” she added, referring to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Bash sat up in her chair and jumped on her remarks: “And you feel comfortable?”
“Absolutely,” Noem responded.
“I remember a time when Republicans were very careful and worried about the government, particularly unelected people,” Bash said.
It was at this moment that Noem appeared to see herself get cornered in by Bash’s tough question.
“We can’t trust the government anymore,” Noem said, speaking over Bash.
“You are the government!”
Noem sought to clarify her remarks and provide a deeper explanation of why Musk was granted access despite not working directly for the Trump administration.
“That’s what I’m saying,” she remarked. “It’s that the American people now are saying that we have had our personal information shared.”
“Elon Musk is part of the administration that is helping us identify where we can find savings and what we can do and has gone through the processes to make sure that he has the authority.
“The information that he has is looking at programs not focusing on personal data,” she added.
The White House described Musk as a "special government employee" last week.
The exchange between Bash and Noem came moments after an awkward moment in which the Homeland Security secretary blasted FEMA for mishandling various disasters, including recent fires in Los Angeles and last year’s Hurricane Helene.
“Get rid of FEMA the way they exist today,” Noem responded to a question about whether she would eliminate the agency. “We still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people that have these types of disasters, like Hurricane Helene and the fires in California, but you need to let the local officials make the decisions on how that is deployed.”
After a few moments, Bash interrupted Noem.
“I took a trip with the FEMA Director,” Bash said about FEMA chief Deanne Criswell.
“Oh, you did?” Noem said.
“She cares,” Bash said.
“What I appreciated about her was, when North Carolina got hit, she did come and I think showing up is a big portion of what needs to have happened,” Noem replied.
