Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries has thrown his full support behind a plan to send Donald Trump’s Cabinet members, including Kristi Noem, on a nationwide campaign tour.
MS NOW host Jen Psaki asked the House minority leader what he thought of proposed plans to send Trump officials to campaign on behalf of Republicans in competitive districts ahead of November’s midterms.
The idea has such potential to spectacularly backfire that Psaki even jokingly wondered whether Jeffries had slipped into a GOP strategy meeting disguised “in a mustache” and suggested the plan himself.
“Yeah, they should start with [Attorney General] Pam Bondi, [Health and Human Services Secretary] RFK, and [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem, and I’ll have a list of districts for them to go to, and we may even be willing to pay the cost!” the New York Democrat said.
Psaki added that Jeffries would even be willing to “fund ads on a bus tour” if the administration wants to try to get people to vote for Republican candidates in November by having them meet figures like Noem in person.
The reputation of the DHS chief has taken a significant hit amid ICE’s hardline deportation tactics in Minnesota and the killing of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.
Even the Trump administration appeared to lose confidence in Noem’s leadership. Last month, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan was deployed to lead on-the-ground immigration enforcement efforts in Minneapolis, effectively sidelining Noem following her disastrous handling of operations in the city, which included trying to paint Good and Pretti as “domestic terrorists.”
There has also been long-running speculation that Noem has been having an affair with her top aide, Cory Lewandowski. The pair have reportedly been traveling together on a luxury 737 MAX jet typically reserved for “high-profile deportations,” complete with a private cabin in the back, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Trump and several senior advisers are said to be “uncomfortable” with the pair’s relationship, with the president pressed on whether the alleged extramarital affair involving one of his top officials is a “bad look” for the administration.
“I don’t know about that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. “I mean, I haven’t heard that. I’ll find out about it, but I have not heard that.”
Bondi has also faced criticism over the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Outrage has been directed at Bondi since last year after she told Fox News in February 2025 that a so-called “client list” belonging to the late pedophile was “sitting on my desk for review,” before later denying it existed.
In December 2025, a straw poll conducted at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest found that Bondi was the least popular of Trump’s main Cabinet members among Republicans, with only 32.9 percent saying they “strongly agree” with her performance.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
