President Trump fires Homeland Security Secretary Noem after mounting criticism over her leadership, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers remarks in Tampa about the war in Iran.
Homeland Security Secretary Noem fired after mounting criticism over her leadership
President Donald Trump on Thursday fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, after mounting criticism over her leadership of the department, including the handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown and disaster response.
Trump, who said he would nominate in her place Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, made the announcement on social media on Thursday, two days after Noem faced a grilling on Capitol Hill from GOP members as well as Democrats.
Trump says he’ll make Noem a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative that he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere.
Noem took the stage to address a Department of Homeland Security event moments after Trump’s announcement but made no immediate mention of her ouster. Instead, she read from prepared remarks, including reinforcing Trump’s message from the State of the Union last month.
Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during Trump’s second term. Her departure caps a tumultuous tenure overseeing immigration enforcement tactics that have been met with protests and lawsuits.
Her tenure looked increasingly short-lived after hearings in Congress this week, where she faced rare but blistering criticism from Republican lawmakers. One particular point of scrutiny was a $220 million ad campaign featuring Noem that encouraged people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.
Noem told lawmakers that Trump was aware of the campaign in advance, but Trump disputed that in an interview Thursday with Reuters, saying he did not sign off on the ad campaign.
Noem has faced waves of criticism as she has overseen Trump’s immigration crackdown, especially since the shooting deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis at the hands of immigration enforcement officers. The former South Dakota governor was also criticized over the way her department has spent billions of dollars allocated to it by Congress.
Aside from immigration, Noem also faced criticism — including from Republicans — over the pace of emergency funding approved through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and for the Trump administration’s response to disasters.
Mullin would need to be confirmed by the Senate, but under a federal law governing executive branch vacancies, he would be allowed to serve as an acting Homeland Security secretary as long as his nomination is formally pending.
Hegseth visits MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday delivered remarks in Tampa about the war in Iran.
The U.S. Central Command (Centcom) is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base and is overseeing military operations.
Hegseth said those operations have just begun.
“We have only just begun to fight and fight divisively. Having a chance to hear from Admiral (Brad) Cooper, if you think you’ve seen something, just wait,” he said. “The amount of combat power that’s still flowing, that’s still coming, that will be able to project over Iran is multiples of what it currently is right now, and that’s when you add up our capabilities and the Israeli defense forces.”
Cooper, who is Centcom commander, said Centcom has been working around the clock on this mission.
“We are at full speed ahead in executing orders given by leadership in Washington,” he said. “The president and Secretary Hegseth have been crystal clear in their expectations, and we are at a high level of execution.”
While Hegseth delivered his remarks in the Bay area, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also talked about the war during a stop in Yulee.
DeSantis offered condolences to the family of Capt. Cody Khork, a soldier from Winter Haven who was killed in Kuwait.
He said justice was finally given for the thousands of American deaths caused by Iran over the years.
“We did have a service member from Winter Haven that was killed in one of the rocket attacks. Casey and I send our condolences to the family,” DeSantis said.
“It just goes to show when you put that uniform on, you never know where you’re going to get sent, you never know what’s going to come your way. We owe a debt of gratitude to the people that are doing that. So I was really saddened to see one of our Floridians struck, but I will tell you, having seen it firsthand, that regime, they would kill as many Americans as they could, and that’s just the reality,” he added.