Fired DHS worker sues agency after he criticized Noem on an alleged fake date

A former employee of the Department of Homeland Security who was fired after video circulated of him on a date criticizing the agency’s head, Kristi Noem, sued the department on Monday, alleging the termination violated his first amendment rights.

Brandon Wright, who worked at DHS for eight years in IT, said in a federal lawsuit that his time at the agency came to an “abrupt end” because of the “yellow journalism tactics” deployed by an unidentified woman he met on the dating app Bumble.

Wright’s lawsuit alleges that she unwittingly recorded him while they discussed Noem over cocktails. The suit alleges that the woman, who is referred to as Heidi Doe in court papers, was “working for compensation and/or in conjunction” with the conservative provocateur James O’Keefe and his company O’Keefe Media Group (OMG), and steered the conversation towards the topic of politics and Noem.

After the recordings spread online, DHS first put Wright on administrative leave in January of 2025, then fired him about two weeks ago, on 8 January of this year.

Wright alleges that by terminating him DHS violated his first amendment right to freedom of speech, which allows “government employees to speak on matters of public concern and to third parties without fear of retribution and retaliation”.

“Mr Wright’s intended private expression of his personal opinions, especially during nonduty hours, is quintessential protected speech on a matter of public concern,” the suit, filed in federal court in Washington DC, states. It argues that the government “retaliated against Mr Wright because of ordinary private speech and unlawfully removed him from federal service due solely to the expression of his Constitutionally protected freedom of speech”.

The suit was filed by the high-profile attorney Mark Zaid, who said the termination was an example of the Trump administration’s push to extinguish any type of dissent.

“The first amendment permits individuals to hold and express opinions that might be critical of the US Government, even when that individual might be a federal employee,” Zaid said.

DHS, Doe and Noem are all named as defendants in this suit. DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

Neither O’Keefe nor OMG are being sued. O’Keefe’s attorneys in another civil suit did not immediately respond to request for comment, and O’Keefe himself did not respond to several attempts to reach him.

Wright was placed on administrative leave on 30 January 2025. DHS later proposed his removal for “conduct unbecoming of a federal employee” while referring to his off-duty remarks about Noem, the lawsuit states.

Wright alleges that a woman contacted him on Bumble in January 2025. The woman, who identified herself as Heidi, “openly identified her political affiliation as a liberal supporting LGBTQ+ rights and feminism, and stated she was seeking both casual dates and potentially a long-term relationship”, the suits says.

They ultimately agreed to meet for a date, according to Wright. He picked a restaurant but claims that “at the last minute” she messaged him asking if they could go to a different eatery with which she was more familiar.

While they discussed a variety of topics, Wright’s suit alleges, the woman “continually steered the conversation to politics”. She remarked that she thought Noem was “crazy”, and, Wright said in the suit, “he was glad she had read up on Defendant Secretary Noem and he agreed with her interpretation.”

When the date wrapped, the woman declined Wright’s offer to drive her to the subway or home, he said.

Wright said the woman texted after the date and suggested they go on another. Wright “did not feel there was a strong connection and he particularly had not liked Defendant Doe’s repeated questions and efforts to talk about DC politics”, and offered to be friends.

Later that month, Wright started receiving “threatening” voicemails from an unknown number, according to the suit. “Each voicemail seemed to be the same person telling him, ‘You’re famous, buddy’ and that he would soon lose his job,” the suit states.

“He also received a text message from a number he did not recognize with a screenshot from Google Maps of his old home claiming that it was his, that the sender knew he was a DHS employee and a reference to a ‘honeypot scheme,’” the complaint said. Wright said he reported this to his supervisor but did not hear back before disciplinary action was taken.

Several days later, a video showing Wright talking to the woman was posted to various social media sites, including YouTube and X, interspersed with commentary from O’Keefe.

The 13-minute video “presents several clips that are repeated more than once and out of context” and was recorded without his consent, Wright’s suit states.

The article posted alongside the video on OMG’s site claimed that a DHS official was contacted for comment and that the agency replied: “Secretary Noem has not seen the video in its entirety. This type of behavior will not be tolerated. This person has been placed on leave and is under investigation … The senior official says the termination of the official is imminent.”

When DHS ultimately fired Wright earlier this month, the suits says, the agency cited ‘“unfortunate circumstances’ in which Mr Wright’s private, off-duty remarks were secretly recorded”, but concluded that his continued employment would “signal to the workforce that it is permissible for employees to undermine the Secretary, the President’s and [the deciding official’s] agenda and authority”.