Ryan Knudson

Why did Trump pick Noam to lead DHS?

Once she took the job, Michelle says Nome's camera-ready leadership style clashed with the culture at DHS.

This was part of a pattern.

Noam often put herself front and center at DHS.

According to Michelle's reporting, Noem wanted her immigration enforcement officers to be in the spotlight too.

Noam and her top advisor fired or demoted 80% of the career ICE field leadership that was in place when she started.

And she was known to make employees take lie detector tests if she felt she couldn't trust them.

And then there was the blanket incident.

All over a blanket, okay.

The complaints weren't just about Noam, though.

Michelle learned there were also concerns about Corey Lewandowski, her top advisor.

Noam and Lewandowski have both denied reports of an affair.

A DHS spokeswoman said the department, quote, doesn't waste time with salacious, baseless gossip.

What really concerned people inside DHS, sources told Michelle, was that Lewandowski was not technically a full-time government employee.

the DHS spokeswoman said Lewandowski is in full compliance with the Office of Government Ethics forms.

One of the things that Noem and Lewandowski decided to do was order DHS to purchase eight airplanes for mass deportations, one of which was a luxury 737 MAX jet.

The DHS spokeswoman said the plane was used for both deportations and cabinet-level travel.

Noem and Lewandowski also had tight control over department spending.

Yeah, I'm sure there are a lot of very big checks coming out of this department.

And then came the ICE operation in Minnesota.