{"id":506938,"date":"2026-03-06T09:02:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/506938\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T09:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:02:25","slug":"the-two-moments-at-kristi-noems-congressional-hearings-that-got-her-fired-as-secretary-of-homeland-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/506938\/","title":{"rendered":"The two moments at Kristi Noem\u2019s Congressional hearings that got her fired as secretary of Homeland Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fired Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem<\/a>\u00a0sealed her fate with two answers\u00a0at a pair of disastrous congressional hearings<\/p>\n

Noem, who is the first cabinet secretary ousted during the second Trump administration, faced pointed questions from committee members on a range of thorny matters, from a recent DHS ad campaign with a Hollywood blockbuster budget to whether she\u2019s sleeping with top aide Corey Lewandowski.<\/p>\n

After answering the questions in a way that reportedly left President Trump \u201cmad as a murder hornet,\u201d she was out of a job less than 24 hours later<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, GOP Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy grilled Noem over a\u00a0massive taxpayer-funded ad campaign where she heavily featured herself<\/a>\u00a0during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you square that with the fact that you have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently?\u201d the senator asked.<\/p>\n

Noem replied, \u201cSir, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

DHS sec Kristi Noem rides a horse while filming an DHS ad at Mount Rushmore. DHS photo by Tia Dufour<\/p>\n

Kennedy seemed gobsmacked by the possibility that President Trump would have approved such an expenditure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying you\u2019re not telling the truth. It\u2019s just hard for me to believe,\u2019\u2019 he said, implying the now-former secretary had used the campaign \u2013 which she insisted was effective \u2013 to boost her profile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were effective in your name recognition,\u201d Kennedy remarked.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts the president in a terribly awkward spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump was reportedly angered by the exchange, and Noem\u2019s claim that he had green-lit the controversial ad campaign, Kennedy telling reporters the president was \u201cmad as a murder hornet\u201d and already considering replacing her.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on the firing of Kristi Noem<\/p>\n

The final straw followed an uncomfortable exchange during Wednesday\u2019s House Oversight Committee hearing, in which Noem was asked point-blank if she ever slept with Lewandowski, who works as a special government employee.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?\u201d Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) asked Noem, who batted the question away as \u201ctabloid garbage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ex-Secretary Kristi Noem\u2019s most memorable photo ops during her tenure at DHS:<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kristi 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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Noem Noem conducts a firefighting simulation at Coast Guard Base Kodiak, in Kodiak, Alaska, March 17, 2025.DHS photo by Mikaela McGee\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdvertisement\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kristi 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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kristi 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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\" Kristi Noem rides on the USCG MSRT Small Boat in South Bay, San Diego, California, March 16, 2025.DHS photo by Tia Dufour\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdvertisement\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kristi Kristi Noem takes a horse tour with Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, TX, Jan. 7, 2026.DHS photo by Mikaela McGee\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Noem 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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\" 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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdvertisement\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Noem Noem riding a camel during a trip to Qal\u2019at al-Bahrain Fort in Bahrain on May 25, 2025.Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Noem Noem dancing during a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina on July 29, 2025.Photo by Alex Brandon-Pool\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"United Noem throwing a coin in Rome\u2019s Trevi Fountain on May 23, 2025.Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdvertisement\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Noem Noem piloting a boat in Manama, Bahrain on May 25, 2025.Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"DHS 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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdvertisement\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cI am shocked that we\u2019re going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today,\u201d Noem said in response. \u201cI would tell you is that he is a special government employee who works for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kamlager-Dove pushed back, telling Noem, \u201cYou should be able to answer if someone asks if you or any federal official is sleeping with their subordinate. It\u2019s the easiest. You should be wanting to answer that question.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is garbage,\u201d Noem shot back.<\/p>\n

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) kept up the pressure, asking Noem to explicitly deny the affair \u2014 but she wouldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

President Trump announced that Sen. Markwayne Mullin will replace Noem to lead DHS. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the ridiculousness of this and the tabloids that you are quoting and referencing are insane,\u201d Noem said. \u201cThis is a thing I have refuted for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that no?\u201d Moskowitz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou say conservative women are stupid or sluts. I am neither,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump was already aware of Noem\u2019s relationship with Lewandowski, who served as his first campaign manager in 2016, and has joked about it for years \u2014 but viewed her handling of the affair question as a disaster for her already crumbling credibility, sources inside and close to the White House told The Post.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, he announced that she was leaving her post at DHS and would be replaced by\u00a0Sen. Markwayne Mullin<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fired Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem\u00a0sealed her fate with two answers\u00a0at a pair of disastrous congressional hearings Noem,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,36525,12,4801,118966,3,111,168033,21,19,22,20,25,194,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-506938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-department-of-homeland-security","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-kristi-noem","12":"tag-markwayne-mullin","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-senate-hearing","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-us-news","22":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}