Donald Trump has fired Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem. Following reports that the president was thinking of ousting Noem after her disastrous congressional testimony this week, on Thursday afternoon he announced on Truth Social that Markwayne Mullin is the new secretary of Homeland Security, effective March 31:

Noem was still speaking at the Sergeant Benevolent Association Major Cities Conference in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday afternoon, and it appeared she was unaware that she had been fired.

Upon hearing that Trump has fired Noem, you may be thinking, Sure, that checks out. I wouldn’t have hired an unrepentant dog murderer in the first place. And there are plenty of other reasons to boot her from the Cabinet, from running a fatal and unpopular immigration crackdown, to allegedly having a military pilot fired over her missing blanket, to the widespread rumors that she’s having an extramarital affair with her top aide, Corey Lewandowski, which she didn’t deny while being questioned under oath by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

All of that may be part of the reason that Trump fired Noem. The secretary spent the last two days testifying before the Senate and House judiciary committees, and while she had quite a few nasty exchanges with Democratic lawmakers, some Republicans grilled her too.

But the part that particularly irked Trump, according to Punchbowl, was Noem’s response to GOP senator John Kennedy’s questions about a government-funded ad campaign featuring Noem, on horseback, urging people living in the U.S. illegally to self-deport:

The $220 million contract for the ad campaign was awarded to an LLC which subcontracted with a company run by the husband of former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. The ads were filmed in October at Mount Rushmore. Ben Yoho, McLaughlin’s husband, said he made $226,137.17 for his work.Under questioning from Kennedy, Noem said repeatedly that Trump personally approved the controversial ad blitz featuring her in the lead role. This has so angered Trump that Noem’s future at DHS may be at risk, we’re told.

The $220 million contract for the ad campaign was awarded to an LLC which subcontracted with a company run by the husband of former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. The ads were filmed in October at Mount Rushmore. Ben Yoho, McLaughlin’s husband, said he made $226,137.17 for his work.

Under questioning from Kennedy, Noem said repeatedly that Trump personally approved the controversial ad blitz featuring her in the lead role. This has so angered Trump that Noem’s future at DHS may be at risk, we’re told.

Noem said several times that Trump knew she was going to run the ads, and she had his full approval. The secretary also argued that she was promoting DHS policy and that the campaign was a success. But Kennedy, echoing the sentiment of many who saw the ads as Noem promoting herself on the taxpayer’s dime, replied, “They were effective in your name recognition. To me it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot.”

Here’s the full exchange:

In a very bad sign for Noem, the president contradicted her on Thursday, telling Reuters that he did not sign off on the ad campaign. “I ​never knew anything about it,” ​Trump said in a phone ⁠interview. A few hours later, she was out.

So it seems the “final straw” for Trump, as The Wall Street Journal put it, wasn’t her absurd full-glam immigration raids, the unrest within DHS under her tenure, or her spending taxpayer money on a luxury jet. It was Noem trying to use Trump himself as cover for her own scandals. By now, everyone in the president’s orbit should know that he values blind loyalty more than anything — but it’s a one-way street.

This post has been updated.

It May Finally Be the End of the Line for Tony Gonzales

Is Markwayne Mullin an Improvement Over Kristi Noem?

Don’t Call It a War, But Trump Wants to Pick Iran’s New Leader

Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.

© Daily Intelligencer