White House officials appear to be relieved by news of Kristi Noem’s ousting as Homeland Security Secretary.
Reading aloud a message he received from an administration source that he dubbed “both spicy and not subtle,” Fox News Peter Doocy revealed the reaction from inside the White House on the 54-year-old’s departure.
“It was time,” the source said. “Replacing Kristi was based on the culmination of her many unfortunate leadership mishaps including the fallout in Minnesota, the $200 million dollars ad campaign, the allegations of infidelity, the mismanagement of her staff, and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE.”
The source added that “Kristi’s drama sadly overshadowed and distracted from the Administration’s extremely popular immigration agenda, which will continue full force.”
Speaking to Fox’s Martha MacCallum, Doocy noted, “It sounds like the only thing that was really saving her job was that the border remained pretty much closed. They are rattling off a number of big stories that swirled up, but her job was safe. There would be a mini scandal, but she was safe. President Trump would get asked about it, he was pleased, but he was keeping tabs and now she’s gone.”
MacCallum pointed out that even as recently as his State of the Union address, President Trump was asked about whether he would be making any changes to his cabinet but “wasn’t at that point ready to speak about that, I guess.”
“Now it became clear today that there was a consensus, and according to this inside scoop on exactly why it happened, they’re not pulling any punches.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump announced on Thursday that Noem would be replaced as Homeland Security Secretary by Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin. Noem will instead become Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, which the president described as “our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida” in a Truth Social post.
When asked by the Daily Beast what Noem’s new position would involve, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales responded in a statement, “This historic new security initiative, led by Secretary Noem, will advance cutting-edge strategies to defeat narco-terrorist cartels and stop illegal mass migration to make America and the entire Western Hemisphere safer.”
Noem thanked the president for her new appointment in a post on X, writing, “Thank you @POTUS Trump for appointing me as the Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas. @SecRubio and @SecWar are incredible leaders and I look forward to working with them closely to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation and killed our children and grandchildren.”
Noem’s tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security was marred by a series of controversies, including her oversight of ICE raids in cities like Minneapolis that turned lethal, killing two U.S. citizens, and resulting in President Trump intervening and sending his border czar, Tom Homan, into the city in an attempt to “de-escalate” tensions.
Noem attempted to save her own skin following the killing of Alex Pretti by throwing White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller under the bus, telling reporters, “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen.”
“She was blaming Miller for a lot. No way Trump lets her stay after that,” one DHS insider told the Daily Beast.
Her personal life also became a significant source of drama amid numerous reports about her alleged extramarital affair with her top aide, Corey Lewandowski, which one FEMA official described as the “worst-kept secret in D.C.”
“Everybody knows they’re together. Can I prove it? No. But they’re together,” a senior Trump admin official told New York Magazine in September.
Confronted by members of Congress over the alleged relationship during a hearing on Wednesday, Noem lashed out.
“The socialist, liberal, left, is you go off and you attack conservative women,” Noem told lawmakers. “You say that we’re either stupid, or we’re sl-ts.”
“That’s what you do. And I’ll tell you, sir, I’m neither.”
