Democratic senators say Kristi Noem broke the law with video played at TSA checkpoints
By Alexandra Skores, CNN
Washington (CNN) — Democrats in the Senate are calling for an investigation and immediate removal of a video being shown at some Transportation Security Administration checkpoints, in which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blames Democrats for the government shutdown.
The 37 second video, intended to be shown to a captive audience of travelers waiting in line for security screening, injects politics into air travel in a way never seen before.
“Secretary Kristi Noem is airing a partisan video message—on televisions in public airports across the country—in which she erroneously blames ‘Democrats in Congress’ for the current government shutdown’s impact on airport ‘operations’ and for Transportation Security Administration employees ‘working without pay,’” Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state said in a letter to the “Office of the Special Counsel. “This message is not just false; it appears to violate the prohibitions contained in the Hatch Act. As the independent agency responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act, I urge you to investigate this matter immediately,” Cantwell added.
The Hatch Act is a 1939 law which prohibits political activities of federal employees to ensure government programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion.
In a separate letter to Noem, Senators Richard Blumenthal, Jack Reed along with 15 other Democrat co-signers, say the video also violates the Anti-Lobbying Act. A 1919 law prohibiting the use of appropriated funds to influence Congress.
The video, called a “public service announcement” by the Department of Homeland Security, was played earlier this week on TSA-owned monitors at airports including Detroit, Bismarck, North Dakota and Albany, New York, but most airports have chosen to not to show it on screens they control.
“We will continue to do all that we can to avoid delays that will impact your travel, and our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government,” Noem says in the taped message.
GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado called it “unacceptable” that more airports were not running the video.
“I will be contacting the Department of Transportation to demand action on airports refusing to show Secretary Noem’s video at TSA checkpoints,” she said in a post on X.
Experts have raised questions about the legality of the video, if DHS can require airports to show it on their screens, and what happens if airports refuse.
“At a time when federal employees, including TSA agents, are being asked to work without pay, this outwardly political act was not just a violation of law but an insult to the thousands of TSA employees serving in your department,” the letter from Blumenthal and Reed read. “We write to demand that you immediately remove these videos and provide information about the resources that were used to create and disseminate them.”
In that letter, the senators called for Noem to remove the video and stop using federal fund for political messaging. It also calls for a “complete breakdown” of the cost to create the video, from the cost of production to when the funds were approved.
CNN’s Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
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