President Donald Trump is replacing Kristi Noem with an MMA fighter-turned-MAGA senator, Oklahoma’s Markwayne Mullin.
Trump announced the move on Truth Social in a sudden end to ICE Barbie’s cabinet career, amid claims she spent hundreds of millions on television ads about herself without Trump’s knowledge.
Trump’s choice of Mullin was first reported by National Review, which said the president had been enraged by Noem’s testimony before the Senate on Tuesday, where she insisted Trump had approved of her $220 million ad campaign in advance.
During the combative hearing, Noem was grilled by Republicans about her department doling out the pricey contracts for an ad campaign heavily featuring her to close political allies.
The outgoing DHS secretary testified under oath that Trump had approved of the campaign in advance as she was pressed by Republican Sen. John Kennedy, who questioned whether she was telling the truth.
But on Thursday, Kennedy told reporters that the president called him after Noem testified and disputed her claims.
“Put it this way, his recollection and her recollection are different,” Kennedy said. Noem was gone just two hours later.
Kennedy told reporters on Capitol Hill that he didn’t have any insider information, but added: “If you’re asking me, my opinion of Markwayne Mullin, he’s very able, capable guy.”
“I mean, I’m not going to say anything bad about him. He’ll whip my a--,” the Louisiana senator added.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Noem was grilled by Republican Senator Kennedy, who took issue with DHS’s multi-million-dollar ad campaign.
“The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?” Kennedy asked on Tuesday.
Noem insisted he had, but when she tried to argue the messaging was effective, Kennedy cut her off: “Well, they were effective in your name recognition.”
The Louisiana lawmaker went on to shred the decision and even questioned Noem’s testimony under oath.
“To me, it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot,” Kennedy said. “I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth, it’s just hard for me to believe, knowing the president as I do, that you said, ‘Mr. President, here’s some ads I cut, and I’m going to spend $220 million running them,’ that he would have agreed to that.”
Publicly, the White House has repeatedly insisted the president still has confidence in Noem despite the stream of negative and embarrassing headlines.
The Daily Beast asked Mullin’s office for comment, but the senator told the National Review on Wednesday that he had not spoken to the president when asked about whether he was aware he was being considered as a replacement.
Mullin is one of the loudest defenders of Trump’s agenda on Capitol Hill, but he does not have a law enforcement or national security background, having run a family plumbing business in Oklahoma before being elected to the House and then the Senate.
Just this week, the senator, a 48-year-old grandfather, mixed up the fact that the U.S. was at war with Iran and instead mentioned the “Iraqi people,” called the defense secretary “President Hegseth,” and immediately backtracked after declaring the U.S. was at “war” in Iran before saying he “misspoke.”
On Thursday, Punchbowl News reported that the president has been quietly calling around Capitol Hill to ask Republican lawmakers whether he should fire Noem. It said Trump was particularly upset with the DHS secretary’s response to Kennedy on Tuesday.
Noem, 54, was already on shaky ground for her handling of the ICE surge to Minnesota and fallout over the killing of two U.S. citizens whom she called “domestic terrorists” in the immediate aftermath, without evidence.
The Cabinet member was separately under fire for ongoing rumors that she is having an affair with her top aide, Corey Lewandowski. It’s known as DC’s “worst-kept secret” as the pair—both married to other people—have been jetting around the country with Noem on a luxury jet to conduct official business.
She declined multiple opportunities while being questioned by the House Homeland Security Committee to deny on oath that they are lovers, and was confronted with two Daily Beast stories about their alleged relationship and personal habits. One was a revelation by The Swamp’s our must-read guide to the D.C. scene, that Lewandowski had been seen taking out her trash. The other exposed how the luxury jet comes with a mile-high bedroom.
