Someone on Sunday stole Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse, which contained about $3,000 in cash, as well as her driver’s license, passport, DHS access badge, keys, and makeup.
Security camera footage, according to CNN, showed an unknown white male wearing a medical mask making off with the bag while Noem was having dinner at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.
But while the matter remains unresolved, Noem is finding little sympathy on social media.
“She’s Homeland Security and can’t even guard and secure her own bag? Tf!!” mocked one commenter on X.
“How can we trust a woman who can’t even protect her own purse? Also, having 3k in cash in it? Sus,” remarked one prominent ResistLib account.
“If Kristi Noem can’t secure a purse how can she secure a country?” echoed another critic.
“Yes, the woman in charge of protecting the nation… couldn’t protect her purse,” quipped someone else. “Secret Service is investigating, but let’s be real—if someone can lift $3K from the Homeland Security Secretary, what does that say about national security?”
Another person jabbed at the Secret Service, accusing it of failing to adequately provide security for Noem.
“The DOGE team needs to address the Secret Service thusly: ‘Exactly what is it that you people do here?’” sniped one commenter.
“We pay for her secret service … they were with her at the restaurant,” noted someone else.
And many others were baffled by the amount of cash she was carrying.
“Who carries $3,000 in cash, except criminals?” questioned legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold.
“I’m lucky if i have 20 on me,” posted someone else.
Noem, however, is not exactly hurting for cash.
According to a financial disclosure filed in August 2024, she reported holding investments such as index funds and retirement plans valued at between $174,000 and $560,000, as well as cash savings up to $265,000 in addition to $180,000 from her book advances.
That doesn’t include her husband’s assets, which include investments in commercial real estate valued at as much as $500,000 and an insurance business valued between $1 million to $5 million.
And Noem hasn’t shied away from hiding her cash either.
In March, she provoked a similar backlash and mockery on social media after filming a promo inside El Salvador’s notorious mega prison—while donning a $60,000 Rolex.
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