Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has accused CBS of “shamefully” editing her comments during an interview on Sunday morning’s Face the Nation.
Noem posted video receipts on her X account on Sunday, including a 25-second portion of the interview that did not air. In her comments, Noem discusses the case of wrongfully deported Salvadoran citizen Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is currently in custody on charges of human trafficking.
CBS later posted the full interview on its Face the Nation YouTube channel.
Noem posted a side-by-side cut of her raw interview alongside CBS’s TV broadcast hours after it aired on Sunday, noting, “Watch for my part of the interview that @CBS tried to cover up.” Noem accused CBS of “shamefully” editing her interview and said the removal of claims she made about Garcia was an attempt by CBS to “whitewash” his alleged crimes.
The Daily Beast has contacted CBS for comment.
Talking to Ed O’Keefe on Face the Nation on Sunday, the brief section removed from the TV broadcast saw Noem claim that Garcia was a “known human smuggler,” MS-13 gang member—which he has denied—and a “wife beater.”
Homeland Security previously shared documents from 2021 where Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, had alleged he had physically attacked her. In April, she told The Baltimore Sun that she had not gone through with the court process and she and her husband were “able to work through this situation privately” and had gone to counseling.
In the unaired footage, Noem repeated previous child abuse claims about Garcia that have been a consistent talking point for the 53-year-old. Garcia has not been charged in relation to the claims. He has pleaded not guilty to federal human smuggling charges.
As well as making unfounded claims involving “how he was treating small children,” Noem stated Garcia, “needs to never be in the United States of America and our administration is making sure we’re doing all that we can to bring him to justice.”
“The one thing that we will continue to do is to make sure that he doesn’t walk free in the United States of America.” She added, “He’s not an American citizen and he shouldn’t be here and especially because of his dangerous criminal activities, we should ensure that we leave every avenue on the table.”
After an “administrative error” Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador in March, then returned to the U.S. in June. He was released from a Tennessee prison on Aug. 22, and arrested by ICE officers in Baltimore three days later.
He is awaiting trial on human smuggling charges set for January in Tennessee, with the Trump administration raising the possibility of deporting him to Uganda. Last week, Garcia’s lawyer said his client was being held at a detention center in Virginia.
The Homeland Security X account also posted Noem’s video, repeating her “shameful” claims. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared Noem’s X video with the caption “WOW.”
The Department of Homeland Security sent the Daily Beast a press release that calculates CBS cut “nearly four minutes” of Noem’s full 16-minute, 40-second interview from the live broadcast.
When asked about plans to potentially deport Garcia to Uganda, Noem told Face the Nation, “The one thing that we will continue to do is to make sure that he doesn’t walk free in the United States of America.” She added, “He’s not an American citizen and he shouldn’t be here and especially because of his dangerous criminal activities, we should ensure that we leave every avenue on the table.”
After his release last week, one of Abrego’s attorneys, Sean Heckler, said Garcia had been offered a plea deal that involved being deported to Costa Rica if he agreed to plead guilty to human smuggling charges.
Talking outside the ICE office in Baltimore last Monday, The New York Times quoted Garcia saying through a translator, “To all of the families who have also suffered separations or who live under the constant threat of being separated, I want to tell you that even though this injustice is hurting us hard, we must not lose hope.”
