Fired Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem likely sealed her fate with one answer to the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday — and it wasn’t the one about sex with her aide Corey Lewandowski.
Noem, who is the first cabinet secretary to be ousted during the second Trump administration, faced pointed questions from GOP Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy over a massive taxpayer-funded ad campaign where she heavily featured herself.
Fired Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem sealed her fate as she reportedly angered President Trump when she told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the agency shelling out $220 million in taxpayer funds for an ad campaign. AP
“How do you square that with the fact that you have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently?” the senator asked.
Noem replied, “Sir, the president tasked me with getting the message out to the country and to other countries with putting commercials out that if they were in the country illegally, that they needed to leave.”
Kennedy seemed gobsmacked by the possibility that President Trump would have approved such an expenditure.
“I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth. It’s just hard for me to believe,’’ he said, implying the now-former secretary had used the campaign – which she insisted was effective – to boost her profile.
“They were effective in your name recognition,” Kennedy remarked.
DHS sec Kristi Noem rides a horse while filming an DHS ad at Mount Rushmore. DHS photo by Tia Dufour
“It puts the president in a terribly awkward spot.”
Trump was reportedly angered by the exchange, and Noem’s claim that he had green-lit the controversial ad campaign.
Here’s the latest on the firing of Kristi Noem
On Thursday, he announced that she was leaving her post at DHS and would be replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
Noem has overseen an unprecedent crackdown at the US border — with illegal crossings dropping to record lows, and an end to the Biden administration’s “catch and release” policy.
She has also presided over the the most sweeping immigration crackdown in recent history — with more than 675,000 illegal immigrants deported and another 2.2 million voluntarily leaving the country, according to DHS stats.
Ex-Secretary Kristi Noem’s most memorable photo ops during her tenure at DHS:
Kristi Noem trains with the Maritime Security Response Team West during a visit to Coast Guard Cutter Elm, in San Diego, CA, March 16, 2025. U.S. Coast Guard District 11
Noem conducts a firefighting simulation at Coast Guard Base Kodiak, in Kodiak, Alaska, March 17, 2025.DHS photo by Mikaela McGee
Advertisement
Kristi Noem rides an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) along the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall in El Paso, Texas, April 28, 2025. DHS photo by Tia Dufour
Kristi Noem observes federal law enforcement and their partners assisting with immigration enforcement efforts in Chantilly, VA, March 4, 2025.DHS photo by Mikaela McGee
Kristi Noem rides on the USCG MSRT Small Boat in South Bay, San Diego, California, March 16, 2025.DHS photo by Tia Dufour
Advertisement
Kristi Noem takes a horse tour with Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, TX, Jan. 7, 2026.DHS photo by Mikaela McGee
Noem boards the US Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba for a meeting on drug interdiction on June 24, 2025 in Panama City.POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) as prisoners stand, looking out from a cell, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025.POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Advertisement
Noem riding a camel during a trip to Qal’at al-Bahrain Fort in Bahrain on May 25, 2025.Getty Images
Noem dancing during a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina on July 29, 2025.Photo by Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images
Noem throwing a coin in Rome’s Trevi Fountain on May 23, 2025.Getty Images
Advertisement
Noem piloting a boat in Manama, Bahrain on May 25, 2025.Getty Images
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem seen riding a horse in front of Mount Rushmore for a DHS ad on Oct. 2, 2025.DHS photo by Tia Dufour
Advertisement
However she faced criticism after a pair of deadly shootings by ICE agents in Minneapolis, particularly when she was quick to brand fatally shot protester Alex Pretti a “domestic terrorist.”
The former South Dakota governor had her share of contentious relationships with high-level administration officials also tasked with immigration enforcement, including border Czar Tom Homan and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller.
Noem’s relationship with the president himself has also been rocky at times.
The departing DHS chief famously obliterated her chance to be named Trump’s running mate after a series of eyebrow-raising revelations in her 2024 book “No Going Back.”
In the book, the 54-year-old callously recalled shooting the family dog — a “less than worthless” 14-month old wirehair pointer named Cricket that she said she “hated.”
She even included the heartbreaking detail that her daughter, Kennedy, “looked around confused” when she came home from school that day, asking, “Hey, where’s Cricket?”
The revelation reportedly disturbed Trump, who told Don Jr., an avid hunter, “That’s not good at all.”
President Trump announced that Sen. Markwayne Mullin will replace Noem to lead DHS. Getty Images
“Even you wouldn’t kill a dog, and you kill everything,” then-candidate Trump said to his son, as detailed in Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt’s book, “Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power.”
Noem doubled down on her decision to kill the dog in an appearance on the “Pod Force One” podcast last September.
Just last month DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin — one of the most vocal defenders of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies — announced she was leaving the department.
A DHS source told The Post at the time that McLaughlin “did a great job” in her post, and that her departure was “amicable,” saying she left for the “same reason anyone leaves: It’s a slog.”
Noem herself lauded McLaughlin as playing “an instrumental role in advancing our mission to secure the homeland and keep America safe.”–