Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem abruptly left the House Committee, citing a need to attend a council meeting to address reform of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) referred all queries to them.

The meeting was supposed to present publicly a report from the FEMA Review Council, created in January by President Donald Trump.

Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem was questioned by Rep. Seth Magaziner about the Department of Homeland security deporting military veterans and U.S. citizens during a Dec. 11 hearing.

U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering replacing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem amid controversy over her alleged relationship with adviser Corey Lewandowski and frustrations within the White House over DHS leadership and policy.

Noem is testifying in front of the House Committee on Homeland Security to discuss “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland.”

In a heated meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Rep. Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi, called on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign.

Her appearance veered into a referendum on her leadership at DHS amid mounting public scrutiny of the department’s hardline immigration enforcement tactics.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday linked the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela to the Trump administration’s counterdrug efforts in Latin America as tensions escalate with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.