Kristi Noem claims she had to move into rent-free home because the media is hounding her too much

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blamed the media for her decision to move to a rent-free military home, a space usually reserved for the top Coast Guard official.

Speaking on Fox News’ Hannity on Monday evening, Noem argued that she had to leave her apartment in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. because of the threats she’d received after news organizations published details about her two-bedroom condo.

The Daily Mail first reported she was living at a Navy Yard condo in April and published photos outside the building. Last week, the Washington Post revealed that the Homeland Security secretary pays no rent at her new living arrangement: Quarters 1 at the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in D.C., used to house the Coast Guard Commandant.

On his eponymous show, host Sean Hannity asked Noem if she had to be moved to military housing “because of threats against your life and doxxing of your home residence.”

“Temporarily. I still pay rent at an apartment in Navy Yard but had to leave there because the media put my address, my apartment, the logistics, where the windows were, and details out to the public,” Noem said.

“The threats were so much that, temporarily, I had to stay somewhere else,” she said.

The Washington Post “did it again,” Noem added. “That’s really the carelessness and the thoughtlessness and the heartlessness that the media operates in right now,” she added.

Noem temporarily moved to Quarters 1 due to the Daily Mail’s photos, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Post.

It’s not immediately clear how long she plans to stay at the military residence or when she moved in. The Daily Mail first reported Noem’s move to military housing in July.

“Following the media’s publishing of the location of Secretary Noem’s Washington DC apartment, she has faced vicious doxing on the dark web and a surge in death threats, including from the terrorist organizations, cartels, and criminals gangs that DHS targets. Due to threats and security concerns, she has been forced to temporarily stay in secure military housing. Secretary Noem continues to pay rent for her Navy Yard residence,” McLaughlin told The Independent in a statement.

“As the DHS officers Secretary Noem leads face a 1000 percent increase in assaults against them, the Washington Post chose to again publish where Secretary Noem is staying—endangering her security.”

President Donald Trump nominated Admiral Kevin E. Lunday for the role of Commandant of the Coast Guard, but he has yet to be confirmed. Lunday, who currently serves as acting commandant, lives in a nearby home on base, the Post reported.

The DHS oversees the Coast Guard — and Noem’s new digs have raised concerns among former and current Coast Guard officials, the Post reported.

Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, also remarked on the perception of her new living situation.

“What are the optics?” Brown told the Post. “And is this taking advantage of your individual position as a government official to benefit unduly?”

Jeh Johnson, DHS secretary under President Barack Obama, told The Post that Noem’s stay marks the first time a Homeland Security secretary had lived in government housing. He told the outlet he was concerned “about the message that sends down the line in the career military community.”

Retired Coast Guard Admiral Paul Zukunft, who served as Coast Guard Commandant from 2014 through 2018, similarly told the outlet: “Quarters 1 has been used exclusively by the current serving commandant since we entered into an agreement for this quarters circa 2010.”

McLaughlin insisted that the move was necessary because Noem had been “so horribly doxxed and targeted that she is no longer able to safely live in her own apartment.”