Kristi Noem’s Non-Stop Slander Invites Congress to Ask Melania about Her Close Ties to Jeffrey Epstein
Kristi Noem loves to slander Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
DHS has long wanted to claim — but failed to substantiate — that Abrego is a member of MS-13.
For example, the whistleblower complaint from Erez Reuveni describes how DHS wanted to make such claims about Abrego, but had no evidence. When he failed to make such an argument in court, his boss Drew Ensign called to complain, explaining that the White House had wanted DOJ to make such a claim.
Ensign asked Mr. Reuveni why he did not argue that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a member of a terrorist organization or that being a member of such organization meant Mr. Abrego Garcia’s protection from removal to El Salvador was nullified. Mr. Reuveni told Ensign he did not make those arguments because: 1 ) those were not arguments in the government’s briefs, which Ensign had reviewed; 2) there was no evidence in the record to support the arguments; and 3) the laws governing withholding of removal do not support a theory that declaring someone a member of a terrorist organization retroactively nullifies a grant ofwithholding relief. Ensign had little reaction but called again a few minutes later asking similar questions and informing Mr. Reuveni that these inquiries were prompted by the White House. Mr. Reuveni again repeated the same concerns he had on the first call.
Todd Blanche fired Reuveni after he refused to sign on a brief claiming that Abrego was a terrorist, a claim not made to the District Court.
And when DOJ attempted to convince two judges that Abrego was a dangerous terrorist, they failed. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes laid out that the evidence presented to her of MS-13 membership largely amounted to the feeling of a cooperating witness whose family has ties to a competing gang, but their key cooperating witness said he knew of no evidence Kilmar was a MS-13 member.
The government’s evidence that Abrego is a member of MS-13 consists of general statements, all double hearsay, from two cooperating witnesses: the second male cooperator and N.V. Those statements are, however, directly inconsistent with statements by the first cooperator. In interviews, the second male cooperator, whose general unreliability the Court addressed above, stated broadly to Special Agent Joseph that Abrego was “familial” with purported gang members. Other than this vague statement, there is no evidence of when these interactions occurred or in what context (other than as general greetings), how the second male cooperator determined those other unidentified individuals to be known gang members, or precisely how some perceived interaction between Abrego and other unidentified individuals substantiates gang membership.
Cooperating witness N.V. stated to Special Agent Joseph that she “believed” Abrego to be a member of MS-13. N.V. is a 20-year-old female individual who gave interview statements, but not sworn testimony, of her interactions with Abrego from more than five years earlier, when she was 14 or 15 years old. She has been previously compensated for providing information to law enforcement but is not receiving compensation in this case. NV’s family is also affiliated with the 18th Street or 18 Barrio gang. Other than N.V.’s general belief about Abrego’s gang membership, no other testimony was offered of when, in what context, how, or why N.V. came to arrive at that belief.
Contrary to the statements of the second cooperator and NV, the first male cooperator told Special Agent Joseph that, in ten years of acquaintance with Abrego, there were no signs or markings, including tattoos, indicating that Abrego is an MS-13 member. This statement specifically repudiates any outward indicia that Abrego belongs to MS-13, in stark contrast to the non-specific second cooperator’s and N.V.’s feelings that Abrego may belong to MS-13. Given these conflicting statements, the government’s evidence of Abrego’s alleged gang membership is simply insufficient.
[snip]
25 Given the volume of resources committed to the government’s investigation of Abrego since April 2025, according to Special Agent Joseph, the Court supposes that if timely, more specific, concrete evidence exists of Abrego’s alleged MS-13 gang membership or a consistent pattern of intentional conduct designed to threaten or intimidate specific individuals, the government would have offered that evidence at the detention hearing.
When asked to review Holmes’ decision, District Judge Waverly Crenshaw agreed, finding that the government’s claims “border on fanciful.”
Based on the record before it, for the Court to find that Abrego is member of or in affiliation with MS13, it would have to make so many inferences from the Government’s proffered evidence in its favor that such conclusion would border on fanciful.
But Noem and her flunkies keep publicly claiming that Abrego is an MS-13 member.
Abrego has requested on four different occasions (one, two, three) for the judge in his criminal case to gag the government from making such inflammatory claims, most recently last Thursday. Each time, Judge Crenshaw has ordered parts of the government to comply — first the lawyers subject to local rules, and then anyone before the court — but he noted that it was not clear whether DHS is before him.
ORDER as to Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia: Before the Court are Abrego’s Motion to Ensure Compliance with Local Criminal Rule 2.01 94 and Supplemental Motion regarding the same 98 . To the extent the Motions 94, 98 seek clarification that Local Rule 2.01 applies both to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, it is not clear on the record before the Court whether that is true of the latter. Nevertheless, for those before this Court, compliance with Local Criminal Rules 2.01(a)(1) and (a)(4) is not discretionary for all attorneys and their firms or agencies. To ensure that Abrego receives a fair trial, all counsel are subject to Local Criminal Rules 2.01(a)(1) and (a)(4) and Tennessee Rule of Professional Conduct 3.8(f). All counsel and those working with counsel shall ensure that any proper public communications include that the Indictment only contains allegations. Our Constitution requires that Abrego is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury.
Noem, of course, doesn’t care.
Perhaps as a deliberate incitement Sunday, she went on Face the Nation, and repeated the same unsubstantiated claims that Holmes and Crenshaw both judged they had no evidence to prove, including that Abrego, “was a known human smuggler, an MS-13 gang member, an individual who was a wife beater, and someone who was so perverted that he solicited nude photos from minors.”
CBS cut that claim, and now Noem, Trump’s top propagandists, and Trump’s right wing mob is trying to liken it to CBS’ editing of the Kamala Harris interview.
In other words, even as Abrego asks the court to make DHS adhere to long-standing policies of public statements regarding pretrial defendants, Noem is deliberately stoking slander.
She’s doing so, presumably, comfortable in the knowledge that DOJ would substitute the government for Noem if Abrego sued. That is, she’s hiding behind the immunity of government employ to stoke a false propaganda campaign against a guy she trafficked to a concentration camp based on false claims.
I can’t help but note that Noem is gleefully engaged in slander in the wake of Melania Trump’s efforts to bully multiple entities — first Daily Beast, and then James Carville — into withdrawing reports about Jeffrey Epstein’s claims that he had role in introducing Melania to her spouse (or that they first fucked on his plane). Melania attempted to do the same with Hunter Biden, but he refused (and in the process, Hunter noted that NYT had published Epstein’s claim he introduced them before he died, with no retraction).
But while Mr. Trump has dismissed the relationship, Mr. Epstein, since the election, has played it up, claiming to people that he was the one who introduced Mr. Trump to his third wife, Melania Trump, though neither of the Trumps has ever mentioned Mr. Epstein playing a role in their meeting. Mrs. Trump has said that her future husband simply asked for her phone number at a party at the Kit Kat Club during Fashion Week in 1998.
Thus far, Melania has not made good on her threat to sue Hunter into oblivion.
Melania also got a British publisher to withdraw a more incendiary claim in online versions of a new book on Prince Andrew.
As Congress returns today, Epstein will remain a key focus, with a politicized inquiry unfolding under James Comer in House Oversight and a more aggressive effort pushed by Ro Khanna and Tom Massie, who have a discharge petition queued up for a vote. Both efforts have real cause to ask why Trump moved sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security prison camp close to Bryan, TX schools (including Texas A&M) to shut her up, and whether it has anything to do with Melania’s litigious interest in tamping down any questions about her ties to Epstein.
Those same members of Congress might take a lesson from Noem (or, for that matter, the members of Congress who made false claims about Hunter Biden).
The entire Trump Administration treats government employ as a platform for incendiary slander.
As Trump faces renewed scrutiny of his efforts to cover-up his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, that could get awkward for Melania.
I am assuredly not saying that Ro Khanna should deliberately lie about Melania, as Noem is deliberately lying about Abrego. But I am saying that one basis for Trump’s sensitivities about Epstein (the other being the fact that Epstein and Maxwell “stole” his spa girls, forcing one — Virginia Giuffre — into sex slavery) appears to be Melania’s ties to the sex trafficker. And Congress does have the interest and authority into probing those ties.
Update: Corrected inaccurate description of Abrego as a “pretrial detainee.” He has been released under Bail Reform, but then was detained anew by ICE.
Update: Fixed Judge Crenshaw’s first name.
I think defamation litigation remains on the table. While Noem seems to think presidential immunity applies to her (it doesn’t) and that government actions are generally not actionable if created by incompetence, this WH has gone out of its way to check the boxes to allow lawsuits.
Making Abrego a public figure, check. Taking discrete actions in direct violation of existing orders shows clear malicious intent, compounded by the government’s antics in Abrego’s return and subsequent charges as well as another back door attempt to send Abrego to Uganda. These documented and intentional violation of the orders about Abrego move the needle from incompetence to criminal behavior under color of authority no different than some sheriff in KS rousting a newspaper office for reporting he didn’t like.
There’s a decent case to be made here, and between Durham to the present there are ample opportunities to show prosecutions are politically based as a policy, perhaps even as a class action.
Aren’t the immunities which Noem might claim here other than “Presidential Immunity” ie qualified immunity and/or de facto federal official immunity?
See https://ij.org/issues/project-on-immunity-and-accountability/why-its-almost-impossible-to-sue-federal-agents/
Yeah, it’d be QI. She would be replaced in a lawsuit by the Feds and you can’t sue the Feds.
Abrego has absolutely superb lawyers, so they might try something else. But it is highly likely she gets away with slander.
A couple of thoughts
1 Finding some way to make Noem personally a witness on an issue in the case, would go a long way toward exploiting her big mouth and small brain to the defendant’s advantage
2 While the official, public stance of the defense should be and must be: the Government in general, and Noem in particular are traducing KAG to interfere with his right to a fair trial, as part of a vindictive campaign against him,
that she persists in larding her campaign with demonstrable falsehoods continues to help the defense to present him as a victim of government overreach.
How this plays with a Tn Federal Judge and jury I have no idea, but to my eyes Noem and the Government look desperate rather than confident.
Question: As trump’s health worsens & documentation of trump staff briefings & WH communications arise; will the “assumed” individual immunity for Noem, Miller, Hegseth, etc. be revisited? Could they be Interpreted as “invented” implementation actions initiated by individuals other than president. Aren’t they liable as knowingly & intentionally guilty accomplices to crimes? (Sorry if this is a useless inquiry.)
Noem is just enacting the two-headed Trump/Miller beast’s explicit bidding regarding Abrego. Getting any sort of legal revenge on her would still fall short of addressing the source of this evil policy.
The original deportations (in defiance of Judge Boasberg’s order) were reportedly a Noem-Miller tag team achievement. I am curious to know if and when the status of Stephen Miller’s “presidential immunity” will get tested.
Thank you for the information regarding Mr. Abrego has good lawyers. Did wonder about that from time to time, given the Government is spending a lot of time and money in trying to remove him from the U.S.A.
What I also wonder is, why this time, money, effort, etc. is being spent on some one who probably isn’t a gang member. Is this a case of they tried to make an e.g. with and took some one with a fairly clean back ground . It is just a waste of time what they are doing. Now why Noem is doing all of this, .perhaps trying to impress trump or replace Melania in his affections. She constantly looks like she is waiting for a photo shoot. She ought to give it up, she is a little long in the tooth for all of that. Between the make up and hair extensions she looks like a burnette barbie gone bad
“What I also wonder is, why this time, money, effort, etc. is being spent on some one who probably isn’t a gang member.”
What they want is the legal right to call any brown person a gang member, particularly if they want to deport that person. There’s no logic other than ‘we’re the government, we get to defame people.’
There’s further reporting about Trump and Melania and the Kit Kat Klub. The Times reported, in July 2016, that Paolo Zampolli, then Melania’s agent, brought her to the Kit Kat Klub.
https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/melanias-supermodel-cv-begins-to-look-a-little-ragged-tt9s3smd2
Zampolli founded ID Models in the 90’s, later joined the Trump Org, and more recently Trump has appointed United States Representative For Global Partnerships.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Zampolli
Presently, Zampolli is doing diplomacy in the former Soviet Union.
https://uz.usembassy.gov/us-special-envoy-for-global-partnerships-paolo-zampolli-meetings-in-uzbekistan/
Some potentially relevant information:
Zampolli’s first Instagram post is a 12/20/13 selfie with Netanyahu on the UN sidelines.
This is a time period from Russiagate with Miss Universe Moscow and that Russian oligarch’s wife tweeting Trump will make a great president for the US, and probably other things priming a Trump presidential campaign.
Shortly afterwards Russia would annex Crimea, and while Netanyahu was seeking international support to prevent a Palestinian coalition from forming, Netanyahu placed an encrypted phone in his private residence to communicate directly with the Kremlin.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140601153635/https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4526082,00.html
Not drawing any conclusions here, but putting a pin in different events.
TY.
I assume you’ve seen the new Barak/Thiel/Epstein emails?
Welcome. Most definitely, I put a link into your Friday article.
Thanks for covering this in detail.
Part of the reason I am focusing on this in my comment above:
1) it should now be clear that Russia and Israel are aggressively pursuing a Manifest Destiny policy, ie Greater Israel, restoring Soviet borders
2) Trump’s presidency is a tool in achieving these objectives
3) I suspect that, earlier than otherwise believed, Israel (of via Netanyahu) made a joint goal with Putin, of pursuing a Trump presidency to meet their national security goals
Sounds as if Russia were already preparing the possibility of Comrade Krasnov running for the presidency for some years before the event.
Wall Street on Parade – https://wallstreetonparade.com/2025/09/its-time-to-name-the-wall-street-financiers-in-the-epstein-files/ – looks at Epstein from the standpoint of Leon Black, Wexner, and JP Morgan bank records back to the mid 1980s apparently. “Epstein related accounts” are said there to be listed. I don’t know how this fits your insights, but thought it might be worth mentioning.
Wyden seems from that text to have some awareness of what WSOP reports.
Others seem less inclined to follow money in ways WSOP cites.
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
There were a few details in there that I was unaware of.
Including the L Brands having 2 independent reviews of Wexner’s relationship with Epstein, which they hid from the SEC. And that Epstein began banking with JP Morgan in 1985, not 1998 as was previously believed.
A few other items related to Trump and Epstein, that I haven’t seen mentioned here yet.
8/28/25: Meidas Touch Exclusive video with Michael Wolff explaining SDNY was inquiring with Epstein about Trump, in 2019
https://youtu.be/J6aDd40076U
8/5/25 Radar Online
“EXCLUSIVE: Leaked FBI Document Reveals Jeffrey Epstein’s Secret History as an FBI Informant”, includes dates from 2007-2008
[note: Epstein was also likely an FBI informant during the Towers Financial theft, in which Epstein constructed the Ponzi scheme and left Steve Hoffenberg as the fall guy to serve 18 years in prison. In interviews with Zev Shalev at Narativ in 2020ish Hoffenberg revealed that at some point Giuliani was a counsel for Towers Financial.]
https://radaronline.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-fbi-source-leaked-document/
8/8/25 Bloomberg
Jason Leopold walks through an active FOIA from Radar Online about Epstein
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-08-08/here-s-a-look-at-what-the-fbi-s-epstein-files-would-reveal
Re SDNY—that would’ve been Maureen Comey’s shop, pressing Epstein about trump. And trump was sure trying to get Berman —her boss— replaced.
Great catch.
“EXCLUSIVE: Leaked FBI Document Reveals Jeffrey Epstein’s Secret History as an FBI Informant”, includes dates from 2007-2008”
I hope someone is looking further into this. I suspect the details will answer a lot of very interesting questions.
A couple of other tidbits about Zampolli going around social media.
July 2019, Politico
In 2013, Ghislaine Maxwell’s Terra Mar “charity” partnered with Paulo Zampolli. For the Politico article Zampolli denied that he knew the partnership was tied with Ghislaine Maxwell.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/21/jeffrey-epstein-trump-clinton-1424120
https://web.archive.org/web/20190722182040/https://theterramarproject.org/dc-archive/h-e-stuart-beck-appointed-first-ambassador-on-oceans-and-seas/
August 2004, British Vogue
After Elite Models Management filed for bankruptcy the purchaser “outbid ID Models boss Paolo Zampolli and financier Jeffrey Epstein to bag the company, according to the New York Post.” I can’t locate the original NY Post story. This time period was shortly before Trump and Epstein bidding war on a property that the NY Times reported was the source of their falling out.
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/trump-buys-elite
Re Zampoili—wasn’t he one of the ones in Individual-1’s orbit also accused of molesting underage girls, if memory serves? Seems like that guy sure knows a whole bunch of credibly accused, indicted and convicted pdf files.
Or maybe you’re thinking of Jean Luc Brunel.
? “treats government employ -is- a platform”
should be ‘as’ not ‘-is-‘ ?
Ty
So Kristi Noem claims, “that Abrego, “was a known human smuggler, an MS-13 gang member, an individual who was a wife beater, and someone who was so perverted that he solicited nude photos from minors.”
From that description, Mr. Abrego sounds like he is next up for for a high level job in the Trump administration, or a full pardon.
If only he had been part of the J6 invasion of the Capitol…
Can Abrego’s team subpoena and/or try to get Noem to testify at trial? Something to put her on the record about her public statements? “She’s making these claims, Your Honor, and must be in possession of critical information that the government has yet to produce.”
I note that both Noem and Bondi, as well as many others in the Trump administration, do not shy from public accusatory declamations prior to conviction on charges. These are not responsible public servants, but propagandists in service to an apparently fascist regime. In saner times they would not hold these positions or else be charged with malfeasance and incompetence under the law.
I saw another segment of that same interview and I have to wonder if Noem said ANYTHING truthful the entire interview. Noem made the claim that LA would not be standing if it wasn’t for Trump sending in the National Guard and Ed O’Keefe barely pushed back. He technically circled back to that statement to ask her what she meant by it. All Ed really did is let her repeat the lie and double down on it.
FFS. And Noem is all butt hurt about the small bit CBS cut out where she lies about Abrego.
Noem and The Felon Guy talk as if they think all cities are about 2000 people in population (and everyone knows everyone else).
Wholly OT, but the only channel open to lobby for issue attention. If the moderation decision is to kill this comment, God Bless. The Cook position on the Fed Board, a 14 yr term, is in litigation, Cook using Abbe Loewll – complaint online – https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/cook-sues-trump-to-block-fed-reserve-firing.pdf
Think over whether focus could expand there, or whether it would spread attention too thin.
Pulte is referring stuff to DOJ on “mortgage fraud” grounds, and how that relates to the duty and independence of governors of the Fed is a crucial question. It is bankers running a central bank, The Creature from Jekyll Island, etc. but the bond market trusts the Fed.
Trump is messing with that trust, and tariff mess-up is in parallel, and the world economic balance is being unbalanced and the system sensitive. Politicizing the Fed is unwise.
At least have a look at the complaint Cook/Lowell have filed, DC District, and decide whether to go there. Since motive is not to hijack the thread, but to lobby, best practice says kill the comment in moderation. But pay attention, the repercussions are great – packing the Fed with idiots if Trump can fire and replace a Board governor on a fraudulent “cause” contention.
All legal tender is via Federal Reserve Notes. It is a hegemonic question. Worth EW attention. End of rant.
I suspect Convict-1’s Fed Board selections (so far two, and look who voted for rate cuts in a 7-2 decision for names) could not withstand the same level of investigation without having skeletons show up. However, IOKIYAR always applies for this WH and its minions.
Strikes me as odd is that Epstein is what made Melania poke her head above ground and hire lawyers (I’m assuming they’re hers and not DOJ, Trump family lawyers on retainer?). I guess she would regard her reputation in society worth fighting this, and given what she has dealt with already the Epstein stink must be much worse than we imagine.
Does she really want that kind of reputation?
Hmmm, a potential conflict of interest if so. Melania wants to raise Epstein again to protect her reputation, while Trump desperately wants to “deep-six” it for the exact same reason.
Though maybe putting a little distance between herself and the Former Big Pal of Epstein is important for her while she patiently awaits the arrival of Nemesis to deliver her freedom…
Pirro today opting for the Gene Simmons look.
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lxumvgf6iq2l
She looks like a perfect target for ICE. She should make sure to have her papers with her on the DC streets.
It’s called MAGA Face. And Pirro is a stunning version of it. Gene Simmons, lol.
I must correct myself. It isn’t called MAGA face, it is called Mar – a- lago face.
Ms. Noem is the way to open the flood gates into for-profit prisons in the USA, and probably other countries too. I would imagine she will say and do anything to arrest anything that walks and talks funny to increase the population of a for-profit prison.
She basically said LA would not be standing if it wasn’t for the National Guard. That it would be burnt to the ground.
I just gotta wonder here, to dig deeper into this pile of poop, who are the investors of these for-profit prisons. What’s the cost of securing an individual? What do our lovely states pay? Who pays? Who gets the cheese?
Ms. Noem is a plastic surgery MAGA face speaking on behalf of the for-profit prison systems. And, ha, the big one in Florida got shut down.
She will say anything to increase profits.
It would be nice to have all that information. Wonder what Noem herself is getting out of all of this, or will there be a reward after she retires from her current government situation. would be interesting to know
She is getting the change left over change from whatever huge cash transaction is happening during the imprisonment of human beings. Like why Uganda? Has someone in the MAGA business world set up a prison there?
MAGA is making money hunting human beings and putting them in prisons. It is what a criminal would do if he was in charge of our justice system. Swing the arc of justice to immorality.
$170B in loose money flowing in the MAGAt direction. You better believe there will be cronyism involved. Remember that ICE and CPB have always been the bottom of the law enforcement barrel.
Aaron Rupar is covering the EPSTEIN/MAXWELL VICTIM press conference.
TRUMP deliberately drowns out VICTIM VOICES [at least twice]:
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lxwxclenms2v
September 3, 2025 at 11:32 AM
!!!
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lxwxop2sm62g
September 3, 2025 at 11:39 AM
TRUMP is SO SCARED of these Victims’ Voices.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/04/09/chuck-grassley-and-his-two-republican-friends/#comment-837322
“He is at war with new information.” – Steve Bannon