Trump Privately Polls GOP on Firing Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem
President Donald Trump has privately canvassed Republican lawmakers on whether he should fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, according to multiple GOP sources who have spoken directly with the President. This confidential polling effort began after Noem faced a savage, Republican-led inquisition before the Senate and House Judiciary committees earlier this week.
Republican Leadership Raises Concerns
Speaker Mike Johnson even raised the possible need for change at the top of the Department of Homeland Security during a recent retreat for senior Republicans in Fort Lauderdale. However, the prospect of replacing Noem is not straightforward. Republicans are privately fretting they may not have the 51 votes needed to confirm a replacement, as reported by Punchbowl News, highlighting the party's internal divisions.
Ad Campaign Scrutiny and Immigration Failures
The President was particularly angered by Noem's responses to Senator John Kennedy, who grilled her over a botched immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and a $220 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign designed to boost her national profile. The cinematic advertisement showed the former South Dakota Governor on horseback at Mount Rushmore and galloping beside a stampede of bison while wearing a cowboy hat.
Notably, the contract was awarded to an LLC which subcontracted with a firm run by the husband of DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, who has since resigned. Under Kennedy's slow-burning, honeyed drawl, Noem squirmed as he methodically dismantled her defense line by line.
Brutal Congressional Exchanges
Kennedy questioned whether Trump approved the ad spending upfront, to which Noem replied affirmatively, claiming they went through legal processes. When Kennedy pressed if the President knew she would be featured prominently, Noem asserted he did, leading to a mock-astonished response from the senator. Kennedy later told Noem the adverts were "effective in your name recognition" but put the President in a terribly awkward spot.
That wasn't the only brutal exchange. Senator Thom Tillis unleashed a finger-jabbing tirade, branding her tenure a "disaster" and demanding she quit on the spot. He bore down on her for refusing to accept responsibility for the killing of protesters by ICE in Minneapolis in January, an incident Trump sidelined her over.
Personal Allegations and Political Fallout
At the House hearing, Democratic lawmakers were even less sparing. Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove asked Noem point-blank if she was sleeping with her top aide Corey Lewandowski, who is himself married. Noem furiously called the claims "offensive" and dismissed them as "tabloid garbage," despite The Daily Mail exclusively revealing last year that the two are engaged in an affair, which they deny.
Trump is said to have been well aware of the pair during the campaign, with journalist Alex Isenstadt's book Revenge noting the President "would raise an eyebrow mischievously" about it. Trump reportedly remarked to aides that "Lewandowski knew how to bat out of his league."
GOP Divisions and Strategic Risks
Republicans are deeply divided over whether now is the right moment to act, amid fears the GOP's slim six-seat majority would be stretched dangerously thin in any confirmation fight. Any replacement nominee would face a brutal confirmation gauntlet, with moderate Republican senators already itching to register their unease over the President's deadly immigration crackdown.
Others have warned Trump that pulling the trigger on Noem in the midst of a DHS funding shutdown, now in its 19th day, would hand Democrats a significant negotiating win. The White House declined to comment, while a DHS spokesman defended the ad campaign as "the most successful ad campaign in US history" and claimed it saved taxpayers over $39 billion.
