Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem went on a rant about CBS News on Sunday, accusing the network of an attempt to “whitewash” what Noem calls “the truth” about Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The Trump administration has called Abrego Garcia a MS-13 gang member and deported him to a notorious prison in El Salvador earlier this year. The Central American immigrant was brought back to the U.S. in June and charged with human smuggling.
Noem went on “Face the Nation” to discuss the deportation controversy then blasted CBS for “shamefully” cutting her answer to a question about him and her explanations on why he’s a threat to “American public safety.”
The DHS secretary took to social media after the interview, sharing a video of the 26 seconds that was cut where she called Abrego Garcia a “perverted” gang member and a “wifebeater.” She also accused the immigrant of requesting child porn from other inmates.
“This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” Noem wrote. “Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.”
In the post on X, Noem showed video of the CBS interview and a clip of her unedited response. She told CBS she did not want to see Abrego Garcia “walk free” in the U.S. again then listed his alleged criminal past, which CBS did not include in the interview because of the potential legal ramifications of broadcasting falsehoods and allegations.
“This individual was a known human smuggler, a MS-13 gang member, an individual who was a wife-beater, and someone who was so perverted that he solicited nude photos from minors. And even his fellow human traffickers told him to knock it off, he was so sick in what he was doing and how he was treating small children,” Noem said in the part that was edited out.
CBS News issued a statement saying it edited the interview to fit the time slot on “Face the Nation,” but that the full interview was published on its website.
“Secretary Noem’s ‘Face The Nation’ interview was edited for time and met all CBS News standards,” a spokesperson for CBS News said in a statement to The Hill. “The entire interview is publicly available on YouTube, and the full transcript was posted early Sunday morning at CBSNews.com.”
“So, he needs to never be in the United States of America,” Noem said in the full clip. “And our administration is making sure we’re doing all that we can to bring him to justice.”
Social media responses fell along predictable lines with the MAGA world dissing the network and opponents calling out Noem and the Trump administration’s “lies” about Abrego Garcia
“Well, yeah. They cut out the unproven, defamatory stuff so they wouldn’t get sued. You can’t just call someone MS-13, a pervert, and a human trafficker without any proof,” MediasTouch wrote on X.
“Awful: Kristi Noem just accused CBS of editing out her comments on Abrego Garcia. But the ‘suppressed’ quotes were mostly lies!” New Republic staff writer Greg Sargent added.
Sargent then added, “CBS is under zero obligation to air lies/unsubstantiated charges from Trump officials. Also note that when Trump extorted CBS for $16 million, he used *precisely this same tactic,* i.e. bogus claims of deceptive editing. Settlement only encouraged them.”
Sargent referring there to the $16 million settlement the network agreed to after President Donald Trump sued over edits made to an interview with then presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024
MAGA didn’t go easy on CBS and were not buying the network’s explanation. “Shame on CBS. I can’t believe they still get away with this kind of thing. For those that don’t know, they were shamed into airing the full interview, after editing out the list of allegations against Garcia,” added one user under the full video on CBS’s Youtube page.
Another added, “So you blatantly edit the interview. Get caught and then put this full 1 on youtube. You need to be sued into the Ground. Corporate Media is a joke.”
In 2019 an immigration judge ruled Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador because of threats from local gangs. But in March the Trump administration flew the migrant, along with hundreds of other alleged gang members, to a prison in the Central American country.
Abrego Garcia has denied he is a gang member, but Noem is threatening to deport him to Uganda if he doesn’t admit to being a human smuggler. He denies this charge as well, and his lawyers are working on an asylum claim for him.
