Noem Hatch – Kristi Noem, the U.S. envoy for the Shield of the Americas, is facing a new Hatch Act complaint alleging she used a government jet and DHS social media accounts to travel to and promote her attendance at a Republican Governors Association event in Nashville on
Kristi Noem’s travel plans are now the subject of a new federal complaint—this time not about policy, but about whether her office used government resources for political ends.
The complaint alleges that Noem. along with one or more members of her staff. violated the Hatch Act by using public resources to travel to and attend a Republican Governors Association conference in Nashville. Tennessee. on June 11. 2025. The Hatch Act. a law dating to 1939. is meant to limit political activity by federal employees so that government programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion. It also restricts executive branch employees—except the president and vice president—from using their office for political purposes.
The watchdog group American Oversight. which filed the complaint. also asked the Office of Special Counsel—an agency that handles Hatch Act complaints—to investigate how the Department of Homeland Security used its official Flickr account. The request is tied to whether the account was used to “publicize Noem’s attendance at the partisan RGA event and other similarly-political activities.”.
Records cited in the complaint show that DHS One. the name of the jet used by the secretary. was used for Noem’s trip to the Republican Governors Association conference in Nashville. The complaint describes that former advisor to President Donald Trump. Corey Lewandowski—who served as a special government employee during Noem’s tenure at DHS and who was allegedly engaged in an extramarital affair with Noem—was also CC’d on some of the communications regarding the RGA trip.
The Nashville schedule attached to the complaint underscores the allegation that Noem was traveling on DHS One. It also shows she was set to meet with 15 governors in Nashville who were attending the RGA, including Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga., and Gov. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont. The schedule marks Kemp as “RGA Chair” and Gianforte as “RGA Vice Chair.”.
The complaint goes beyond travel and into promotion. It details how DHS’s Flickr account was used to post photos of Noem. promoting her attendance at the political event. It is this combination—government transportation and official publicity—at the center of the complaint to the Office of Special Counsel.
Noem has also faced intense political pressure before, including questioning before Congress about the alleged relationship involving Lewandowski. She attacked the reports as “tabloid garbage,” but she stopped short of explicitly denying the allegations while under oath.
This new legal trouble arrives after earlier scrutiny during her time at DHS over the department’s leasing and purchase of a Boeing 737 Max 8. That aircraft. according to prior reporting. included showers. a kitchen. four large flat-screen TVs. a bar. and a bedroom with a queen-sized bed. At the time. DHS said the jet was intended to be used as part of Trump’s mass deportation agenda. but the department later pivoted. saying the aircraft would be made available so other cabinet secretaries could travel in its luxury interior.
Noem is currently serving as the U.S. envoy for the Shield of the Americas, after previously serving as the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Salon.
For Noem, the newest Hatch Act allegation lands at the intersection of a legal framework designed to keep federal power out of partisan promotion—and a series of questions that have already followed her from her time at DHS into her current role.
Kristi Noem Hatch Act Office of Special Counsel Department of Homeland Security DHS Flickr DHS One Republican Governors Association Nashville June 11 2025 Corey Lewandowski Shield of the Americas federal employee political activity