Departing DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, Image via Department of Homeland Security / Screengrab
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, often named as one of Donald Trump's most loyal defenders, is leaving her office later this month, with an analysis from The Bulwark finding that she leaves behind a pattern of "heinous lies" made in the face of "horrifying tragedies."
McLaughlin is set to leave her position on Feb. 27, with various reports noting that her exit comes as her boss, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is facing increasingly bipartisan heat over her performance. She had reportedly been plotting her departure around the end of last year, but delayed it after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers.
It was on the subject of those recent deaths that McLaughlin shared the first two major lies highlighted by The Bulwark. During media appearances, she perpetuated the claims from her superiors, including controversial Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the Good had been involved in "domestic terrorism" and that Pretti, who had been lawfully carrying a gun right before his death, intended to "massacre law enforcement." The Bulwark noted that, unlike her bosses, McLaughlin did not back away from these unfounded claims.
"Although McLaughlin helped build this false and slanderous narrative that even hardliners like Miller have abandoned, she herself has refused to renounce her office’s extreme—and baseless—claims about Pretti," The Bulwark's analysis detailed, later adding, "And just as in the case of the Pretti killing, McLaughlin refused to give up her lies. When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked her about the administration’s repeated characterization of Renee Good as a domestic terrorist, calling it 'outrageous,' McLaughlin doubled down, saying, 'It was an act of domestic terrorism. In no way is that outrageous.'”
McLaughlin also asserted that ICE agents were not restraining people using zip ties, which she called a "disgusting smear," wvwn though photos later emerged from an FBI-led operation in Idaho showing a teenage American citizen restrained with them. The outlet noted that, on this count, there is the possibility that McLaughlin was correct in a way, as the zip ties could have been administered by FBI agents or local law enforcement officers.
"But even if children were being zip-tied by FBI agents or local law enforcement officers or some other DHS personnel instead of ICE during this particular raid, it’s not as though they are being spared from the cruelty of the administration’s mass deportation efforts," the analysis argued.
The Bulwark further highlighted McLaughlin's claims that Trump's mass deportation agenda was only targeting "the worst of the worst," and that DHS was making sure to use "U.S. taxpayer dollars well." The former claim, often invoked by Trump as well to defend his plans, has been consistently rebuked by reports about the many non-criminal immigrants being taken by ICE. As of October, one estimate found that 73 percent of ICE detainees had no criminal record at all, and only 8 percent had a history of committing violent crime.
The latter claim about spending came during an interview about DHS painting Trump's prized border wall black, to make it hotter to the touch for those trying to climb it.
"That makes a lot of sense—so long as you completely discount the existence of gloves, ladders, and the nighttime," The Bulwark noted, later adding, "If this is what responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars looks like, what would irresponsible stewardship entail?"
