WASHINGTON — They came to the hearing room seeking accountability. They left with only the cold, unblinking stare of a woman who has refused to say she’s sorry for the dead.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem faced a brutal two-day grilling on Capitol Hill this week, but for the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the hearings delivered no justice—only the searing confirmation that their loved ones’ deaths have been reduced to political talking points .

“What we’ve seen is a disaster. Under your leadership, Ms. Noem—a disaster!” Republican Senator Thom Tillis exploded during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, his voice rising as he pointed a trembling finger at the secretary . The North Carolina Republican, visibly shaking with rage, demanded her resignation on live television .

But the most damning moments came not from Republican infighting, but from the families themselves—sitting silently in the gallery while senators laid bare the evidence of what many are now calling a cover-up.

The 93 Seconds That Haunt Minneapolis
On January 24, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old VA ICU nurse, was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis . Video footage appears to show Pretti holding only a phone—his legally concealed weapon still secured in his waistband—when agents opened fire .

Within hours, Noem stood before cameras and branded the dead man a “domestic terrorist” . She claimed, without evidence, that he had come to “massacre” law enforcement .

The label stuck. The damage was done.

“When I spoke to Alex Pretti’s parents, they told me that you calling him a domestic terrorist—this was directly from them—the day after he was killed, a nurse in our V.A., Alex—one of the most hurtful things they could ever imagine was said by you about their son,” Senator Amy Klobuchar recounted during the hearing, her voice heavy with emotion .

“Do you have anything you want to say to Alex Pretti’s parents?”

Noem’s response: “I did not call him a domestic terrorist. I said it appeared to be an incident of—”

The distinction was lost on everyone in the room. Including the parents.

The Miller Blame Game
Behind the scenes, the situation was even uglier. According to reporting from Axios cited repeatedly during the hearing, Noem had privately blamed White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller for the “domestic terrorism” characterization .

Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican not known for crossing the administration, cornered Noem on the contradiction.

“What got my attention was you blamed your ‘domestic terrorist’ statements on Stephen Miller,” Kennedy said .

Noem denied it, dismissing the report as “anonymous sources” .

Kennedy wasn’t buying it. He read her own on-the-record quote from January 27 back to her: “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the President and Stephen” .

“Do you think it was fair to blame Mr. Miller?” Kennedy pressed .

The room fell silent. Noem offered no apology.

Excluding the Truth
Perhaps most troubling was the revelation that Noem had deliberately excluded the one person who could provide factual testimony about the shootings: Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott .

According to two DHS insiders who spoke to The Daily Beast, Noem’s team intentionally left Scott out of pre-hearing briefings because he “would not provide the narrative she wants” . Instead, loyalists crafted the talking points—ensuring the secretary would stick to the script, facts be damned .

A DHS spokesperson denied the claim, but both insiders pushed back, with one source saying: “They will lie to ensure any conflicting narrative is stamped out” .

Renee Good: The Forgotten Victim
In the fury over Pretti’s death, Renee Good’s name has been whispered rather than shouted. The 37-year-old was shot and killed by ICE officers on January 7—more than two weeks before Pretti’s death—during the height of Operation Metro Surge .

Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, pressed Noem repeatedly to retract her characterization of both victims as aggressors .

“We have ample video evidence and eyewitness testimony proving you are wrong,” Durbin said. “Your statements caused immeasurable pain to these families” .

Noem refused to retract a single word .

The Dog Story That Won’t Die
In one of the most surreal exchanges of the hearing, Senator Tillis dragged Noem back to a moment from her own book—the infamous story of killing her dog because it was “untrainable” and “dangerous” .

“You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested in the appropriate time for training it and then you have the audacity to go and into a book and say it’s a leadership lesson!” Tillis cried out. “Those are bad decisions, made in the heat of the moment. Not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis” .

The comparison landed like a thunderclap. Noem sat silent.

What Happens Now?
Two Senate Republicans have now called for Noem’s resignation . Democrats have launched an impeachment effort . The Department of Homeland Security remains partially shut down, with Democrats refusing to fund it unless immigration enforcement practices are reformed .

President Trump, for now, stands by his secretary .

But for the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, none of it matters. Their children are gone. And the woman responsible for the agency that killed them sat in a marble room this week, refusing to say she was wrong.

“Is it so hard to say you were wrong?” Durbin asked .

Noem answered: “Absolutely” .

But she never did.