Overview
- Trump said Mullin will take over March 31 pending Senate confirmation and reassigned Noem as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, which he highlighted at a Doral event where Noem was seen.
- Noem’s downfall accelerated after she testified that Trump approved a roughly $220 million advertising push featuring her; Trump denied knowing about it, a point Sen. John Kennedy said the president stressed to him directly.
- The ad contract faces scrutiny for bypassing a standard bidding process, and ProPublica reported a lucrative subcontract went to the husband of a former DHS spokesperson as senators weigh potential perjury and ethics inquiries.
- During Noem’s tenure DHS emphasized large-scale immigration sweeps that drew protests and bipartisan criticism after agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, whom Noem labeled “domestic terrorists.”
- Current and former officials describe morale and management troubles tied to resource shifts away from cybersecurity, disaster response and intelligence, while administration sources also cited internal feuding in the decision to replace her.