Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem felt “thrown under the bus” following her firing by President Donald Trump Thursday after complaining she wasn’ getting the support needed to do her job, according to a report.
The Daily Caller quotes an unnamed official as saying Noem believed she had been made the administration’s scapegoat over the disastrous Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, which saw two U.S. citizens shot dead in confrontations with federal agents.
However, a second official told the same publication: “It’s laughable that Kristi is trying to blame her own self-inflicted issues on someone else.
“The issues that led to Kristi’s replacement were a result of her own wrongdoings, not a lack of support from the White House.”
That person also tells the Caller, “It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when.” Noem would be fired, adding she had been responsible for a number of “unfortunate leadership failures.”
These included “the fallout in Minnesota, the 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,” they said.
In addition to the killings of Rene Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the source was referring to a $220 million ad campaign in which Noem was prominently featured in cowgirl guise, an alleged extramarital affair between the secretary and her top adviser Corey Lewandowski, and her reported personal feuds with the likes of border czar Tom Homan, who was ultimately sent in to Minnesota to restore order.
“Anyone who’s close to the situation at all could see this coming,” the Caller’s source said.
They also alleged that there were “major differences” between two factions in the White House regarding Noem and Lewandowski, with one side resenting the latter’s alleged attempt to have Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita fired during the 2024 presidential election. Wiles is now the president’s chief of staff.
The Independent has reached out to both the White House and DHS for further comment on the circumstances surrounding the secretary’s dismissal.
Noem endured a torrid 13-month tenure as the public face of Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown, during which she was roundly mocked as the “ICE Barbie.
After causing uproar by describing both Good and Pretti as “domestic terrorists” in defense of the agents who killed them, she was subsequently hit by accusations about the “chaotic” state of her department, her excessive media focus, and the alleged affair with Lewandowski, which both parties have vehemently denied and Noem called “tabloid garbage” this week.
With Trump’s patience running short, she suffered a nightmarish brace of appearances before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees this week, during which the president was reportedly “incensed” by her claim that he had known in advance about the aforementioned advertising campaign.
“I never knew anything about it,” he told Reuters Thursday, shortly before announcing she would be replaced by Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin and made special envoy for the newly-created Shield of the Americas initiative.
Her departure appears to have been greeted with jubilation by DHS staffers, who are said to be “actually crying out of happiness,” according to The Washington Examiner.
Noem’s exit was also cheered by the Democratic governors of states swarmed by ICE last year, with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker all posting uncomplimentary fare-thee-well messages on X.
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