President Donald Trump said Thursday on social media he was firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and would name Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her.
Trump thanked Noem for her service, saying in his Truth Social post she “has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)” and that she “will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.”
He said Mullin would take over the position March 31. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the Trump administration will work to confirm Mullin “as quickly as possible.”
Trump loves watching Mullin on TV, aides said, which played a role in the president’s decision to tap him for the position. Trump has called Mullin following combative interviews to praise him and White House staffers have often dispatched the senator to do cable news hits around big moments for the administration.
{snip}
Current and former Homeland Security officials had privately questioned how much longer the secretary would remain in the post following what they perceived as a series of missteps. Those include blindsiding the White House with a decision to pause TSA precheck during the current DHS funding lapse — a decision that was reversed within hours — and her responses during two congressional hearings this week.
Trump himself was angry with how the hearings went — particularly her assertion, which he denies, that the president was aware of her DHS ad campaign.
{snip}
Within DHS, officials had expressed increasing frustration — and at times, exhaustion — over the way Noem and Lewandowski, a longtime Noem confidante who was tapped early on to serve at DHS as a special government employee, run the agency. Lewandowski is expected to depart the agency alongside Noem, according to sources familiar with the matter.
“People are tired of their shit. Honestly, it’s been unreal,” one Homeland Security official told CNN.
Lewandowski, who’s only intended to serve in his role on a temporary basis, has developed a reputation at the department of reprimanding officials, directing the firings of personnel, requesting employees be put on administrative leave, calling agency leaders “to hold them accountable,” and micro-managing — including over the massive infusion of cash the department has received to ramp up deportations.
{snip}
Noem was also grilled about longstanding allegations in the media that she was in a romantic relationship with Lewandowski. She called it “tabloid garbage” during a House hearing Wednesday.
{snip}
Mullin was elected to the Senate in 2022 after serving five terms in the House of Representatives.
In his tenure, Mullin has been a staunch ally of Trump and was a regular fixture in negotiations within his party, relying on his relationships across the Capitol to serve as a conduit between House and Senate Republicans. {snip}
{snip}
The post Trump Fires Noem as Frustrations Build Among White House Officials, GOP Lawmakers appeared first on American Renaissance.
American RenaissanceRead More
R1
T1
