Sen. Thom Tillis previously criticized outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's pattern of "bad decisions" after she admitted to killing the dog in her 2024 memoir
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NEED TO KNOW
- Sen. Thom Tillis took a jab at outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a social media post by congratulating her replacement and referencing an anecdote from her 2024 memoir, in which Noem described shooting her dog
- President Donald Trump announced Thursday afternoon that Noem would depart as head of DHS at the end of the month but retain a position in the administration
- Trump nominated Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin as Noem’s replacement
When Sen. Thom Tillis congratulated fellow Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin on his nomination to replace outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, he referenced their mutual love of dogs — and Noem’s killing of her own.
On Thursday, March 5, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Noem would exit DHS at the end of the month, but would retain a position in the administration as a special envoy for Trump’s soon-to-be-announced security initiative, “Shield of the Americas.” Trump selected Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, as Noem’s replacement.
Tillis said Mullin, with whom he has worked in the Senate since 2023, is “a great guy and a great choice to lead DHS" in an X post after Trump's announcement.
“Another big positive: he likes dogs,” the North Carolina Republican, 65, wrote.
Tillis had earlier called for Noem’s resignation during a tense oversight hearing this week, comparing Noem’s leadership at DHS to a widely publicized anecdote from her 2024 memoir, in which she described shooting and killing a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket.
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The dog, Noem claimed, was “untrainable” and “less than worthless” as a hunting animal. Noem said she had tried, unsuccessfully, to train Cricket using an electric collar, but ultimately made the decision to put her down by shooting her in a gravel pit after the dog attacked a neighbor’s chickens.
Noem’s memoir, No Going Back, recounts a similar instance of Noem killing a male goat on her family’s farm that was “nasty and mean” because it had not been castrated. The former South Dakota governor defended her actions at the time on social media, saying, “tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm.”
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Tillis, who will retire when his term ends in January, criticized Noem’s killing of both animals during Tuesday’s Senate hearing. “You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time and training, and then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it's a leadership lesson about tough choices,” he said.
“You are a farmer. You don't castrate a goat, they behave badly. You should have probably done that before,” Tillis added. “But my point is, those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment, not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis.”
Two U.S. citizens — Renée Good and Alex Pretti, both 37 — were shot and killed by federal agents in January during ICE's “Operation Metro Surge" in Minnesota.
Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty
Tillis, a noted dog lover, has hosted several dog-related events during his tenure in Congress, most recently a Mardi Gras-themed costume parade he dubbed “Doggi Gras.” During his annual “bipawtisan” costume party at the Capitol in 2021, Tillis dressed his dogs, Theo and Mitch, as former independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
“We’re just people who are dog lovers, and a few people who are dressed up as dogs,” Tillis told reporters at the time. “It’s just an opportunity to let everybody know that if you love dogs, you’ve got to be a pretty good person.”
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