MaddowBlog-Pressed on voting conspiracy theories, Noem gives the wrong answer to a good question

[LetMyPeopleVote]

When an official accuses a state of having a system of elections that’s become “an absolute disaster,” she really only has one job: Prove it.

Noem went to Arizona to condemn its elections system as “an absolute disaster.”

Asked for one example of fraud, she replied, “Oh, I’m sure there’s many of them” — a clumsy way of admitting, “I assume my conspiracy theory is true, but I can’t back it up.”

In GOP politics, this keeps happening.

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-17T18:45:04.175Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/kristi-noem-voting-conspiracy-theory-arizona

At a press conference last week in Arizona, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sparked an unexpected controversy when she said Trump administration officials have been “proactive to make sure that we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country.” The comments were so provocative that when White House border czar Tom Homan was asked what Noem was talking about, he replied, “That would be something she’d have to answer.”

But there’s another element to the secretary’s appearance that stood out: The point of her trip to Arizona was to advance Republican conspiracy theories related to voting and election administration. In fact, the South Dakotan insisted during her trip that Arizona is “an absolute disaster” when it comes to elections.

Naturally, this led to a reporter to ask the secretary an obvious question that she should have seen coming. As The Arizona Mirror reported:

She called Arizona’s elections an ‘absolute disaster’ and made the false claim that there is widespread voter fraud by illegal immigrants. But when pressed by reporters to provide examples, Noem could not provide even a single one.

‘Oh, I’m sure there’s many of them,’ she responded.

That might seem like an exaggeration intended to make Noem appear foolish, but the report summarized precisely what happened. When a reporter asked whether she was aware of any examples of voter fraud actually happening in the state, the secretary pointed to nothing.

Q: Can you offer us any examples of voter fraud in Arizona?

KRISTI NOEM: Oh, I'm sure there's many of them

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-13T19:23:41.683Z

,,,,The very least Noem could have done is to offer one example of fraud. Ideally, her indictment of the system would have included a documented pattern of irregularities. If that wasn’t an option, the DHS secretary might have at least pointed to a single, specific instance.

But she didn’t. Rather, she said, “Oh, I’m sure there’s many of them,” which was a hand-waving way of saying, “I assume my conspiracy theory is correct, but I can’t back it up with evidence.”,,,,

It’s worth emphasizing that after the 2020 election, Republicans thought they’d finally come up with a real example of voter fraud: A Nevada man named Donald Kirk Hartle claimed that someone had cast a ballot in the 2020 election on behalf of his late wife, who’d died three years earlier.

Tucker Carlson, a Fox News anchor at the time, told his viewers of the Hartle matter, “In moments like this truth really matters more than ever. False allegations of fraud can cause as much damage as the fraud itself. … So we want to be accurate. What we’re about to tell you is accurate. It is not a theory. It happened, and we can prove it.” Others on the right seized on the Hartle story with comparable enthusiasm.

Except they were wrong. Hartle had lied and ultimately pleaded guilty to having cast the ballot himself. The single best example Republicans could come up with wasn’t real.

Six years later, Noem is “sure” there are “many” such examples — but she just can’t tell you about a single one.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. When people in way over their head get power

we're screwed.

[Blue Owl]

2. Has anyone tried throwing a bucket of water on her yet?