FILE — Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, watches as President Donald Trump, not pictured, signs executive orders, proclamations, and an ambassador commission in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. The person who stole Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s handbag containing $3,000 in cash over the weekend was wearing a medical mask and snatched the bag from underneath her chair, officials said. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
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WASHINGTON — The person who stole Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s handbag containing $3,000 in cash over the weekend was wearing a medical mask and snatched the bag from underneath her chair, officials said.
“She could feel this person as they snatched her bag, but thought they were her grandchildren playing until realizing a minute later that her bag was gone,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security. “Her bag was under her feet, and the perpetrator hooked the bag with his foot and dragged it across the floor and put a coat over it and took it.”
The robbery happened Sunday night at a restaurant in Washington where Noem was having dinner with her family. The handbag also held Noem’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys and blank checks.
Noem runs a department that is in charge of the nation’s security, including border control and immigration and terrorism protection.
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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Hamed Aleaziz/Eric Lee
c. 2025 The New York Times Company
