Friday, March, 6 2026 - US President Donald Trump has fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and announced he would nominate in her place Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social on
Thursday, two days after Noem faced a grilling on Capitol Hill from GOP members
as well as Democrats.
Trump said Noem had "served us well, and has had
numerous and spectacular results," and would instead be made a special
envoy for the "The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative that
he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere.
"Thank you @POTUS Trump for appointing me as the
Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas," Noem wrote on X.
"@SecRubio and @SecWar are incredible leaders, and I look forward to
working with them closely to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our
nation and killed our children and grandchildren."
Noem is the first cabinet secretary to leave the Trump
administration in the second term. The announcement comes after Noem spent two
days being grilled by lawmakers in Congress over her leadership.
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.
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