Why Trump really turned on Kristi Noem
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Good morning. Trump fires Kristi Noem in a major cabinet shakeup.
He's been under pressure from his top advisers, from immigration hawks, from people at DHS for months and months to get rid of Noem. And we're only now seeing him cave to that pressure.
The Wall Street Journal explains why the president turned on his loyal Homeland Security secretary. Israel bombards Beirut as the Middle East conflict widens.
Why did Trump fire Kristi Noem?
And as Trump demands a say in Iran's new leader, Reuters bureau chief for the country explains who might be next in line. It's Friday, March 6. I'm Cecilia Ley, and this is Apple News Today.
What pressures led to Noem's dismissal?
Kristi Noem is out. On Thursday, President Trump announced he was firing Noem, marking the first major cabinet-level shakeup of his second term. Noem led the department through a set of wide-ranging and controversial tasks, like implementing the president's immigration crackdown and attempting to overhaul the disaster agency amid major weather events. Michelle Hackman covers immigration for The Wall Street Journal and reported on the ongoing issues with Noem and DHS.
There has been frustration growing with Kristi Noem for months. It all started, I would say, about a year ago when these ads of Noem started appearing on places like Fox News. They were prominent, glossy ads of her. They looked like campaign ads of her saying, you know, encouraging people to self-deport. If you are considering entering America illegally, don't even think about it.
Let me be clear.
If you come to our country and you break our laws, we will hunt you down. And the problem people had with them was that they were in English and they were not airing places that typically people in the country illegally would be watching TV.
The border security ad campaign reportedly cost $220 million, and it was a major subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this week. It was brought up in this exchange with Republican Senator John Kennedy.
And you're saying that you're testifying that President Trump approved this ahead of time. Is that my understanding?
We had conversations about making sure that we were telling people.
No, ma'am. I'm asking you, sorry to interrupt, but the president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently.
Yes, sir. We went through the legal processes. Did it correct? Did the president know you were going to do this? Yes.
He did.
Yes. Noem claimed that the ads had been effective, but Kennedy said they were only good at building up Noem's own name recognition.
I mean, to me, it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot. And 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've cut, and I'm going to spend $220 million on them. running them, that he would have agreed to that.
After the testimony, Trump told Reuters that he didn't know anything about the ad campaign. A watchdog at DHS is reportedly investigating the contract and whether it went through the standard bidding process. But the ads were just one issue. Over the course of Trump's second term, Noem emerged as one of Trump's most prominent senior officials, often attracting negative press attention and criticism from her own party's senators. After the fatal shootings of Rene Good and Alex Preti in Minnesota, some Republicans called for her to go. Her management of DHS personnel came under scrutiny, too. In particular, the role of her top advisor, Corey Lewandowski, who's also expected to leave DHS.
And he's sort of been her enforcer, her chief of staff. He's been a source of fear and frustration across the Department of Homeland Security.
The Journal and others have reported that the two were in a relationship. When she was asked about it during this week's hearing, she dismissed the question as, quote, tabloid garbage. But scrutiny of the pair has heightened this past year, especially over department spending.
She spent $70 million on, it was a luxury 737 MAX with a private room in back.
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