How the ice finally broke under Kristi Noem
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Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos: Michael Gonzalez, Nicole Combeau/Bloomberg, and Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images
President Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday after he consulted allies and advisers — all of whom told him it was time for her to go, sources tell Axios.
- "She burnt up a ton of goodwill," an adviser who spoke with Trump told Axios. "It was everywhere. It was everything."
Why it matters: Trump's firing of Noem was the biggest personnel shake-up of his second term. It showed the backlash against her was so great that Trump was willing to dismiss the nation's domestic security chief as he's launching a war abroad.
Driving the news: The ice under Noem was getting thinner and thinner even before this week, when she made two humiliating appearances before House and Senate committees.
- During those public sessions, Noem was subject to bipartisan probing about alleged mismanagement of DHS, her self-promotion at huge taxpayer expense and even a rumored extramarital affair with her de facto chief of staff, Corey Lewandowski.
- Under oath, Noem refused to deny an affair.
Zoom in: Noem recently drew scrutiny from administration officials and congressional leaders for spending deportation funds to buy two luxury Gulfstream jets and leasing a Boeing Business Jet 737, which Noem said would be used for "executive air travel and for deportations."
- But the 737's luxurious interior, with a bedroom and bar onboard, would be unlike any other plane used to deport unauthorized immigrants.
The intrigue: Noem and Lewandowski then lent the 737 to First Lady Melania Trump, who used it on several flights from D.C. to New York. The first lady's office didn't respond to a request for comment.
- "They're smart. Corey is really smart. I don't take that away from them. Because they flew the first lady on it, they think they're bulletproof," an administration official said, calling the move to involve the first lady an "insurance policy" for the spending.
- Planned cost for the three planes: More than $270 million, making it "the world's worst deal to buy an aircraft," an administration official told Axios on Saturday.
- Trump was made aware of the situation and, another official said, spoke with Lewandowski this week about him and Noem moving on.
- "It wasn't a positive call," the official said.
Zoom out: The plane deal and congressional hearings were the final demerits for Noem, whose reputation in Trump's eyes had taken a beating for her handling of the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens.
- "Minneapolis was just a disaster. We were supposed to be stopping fraud from Somalian illegals. But we wind up shooting two people in the middle of the street," one of the Trump advisers told Axios.
- At this week's hearings, Noem also struggled to explain why FEMA money meant for disaster relief last year was still held up.
- "She had no goodwill on Capitol Hill," the adviser said. "She mismanaged FEMA. She didn't show up to hearings. She was disrespectful. No one liked her."
Inside the room: White House officials hope Noem's firing could help break a congressional logjam over DHS funding. Trump quickly tapped Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin as her replacement.
- The agency has been shut down for almost three weeks as tensions have escalated with Iran, leaving DHS's cyber security sub-agency with furloughed staff and others working without pay.
- Democrats quickly dismissed the idea that Noem leaving was enough to earn their votes.
- "Democrats were complaining about Noem. Now she's gone," an administration official said. "If they want to still fight the president at a time we need a fully funded Homeland Security department, especially after he made a personnel move they wanted, that's on them to look unreasonable."
Follow the money: Trump distanced himself from the controversy over Noem's immigration ad campaign's contracts that cost about $200 million for production and air time.
- As of Thursday, at least $79 million had been spent to air the immigration ads prominently featuring Noem, according to data from AdImpact.
- Just before dismissing her Thursday with a face-saving newly created administration post, Trump told Reuters that "I never knew anything about" the ad campaign, which Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said was self-aggrandizing because of how it featured Noem.
Reality check: Trump's claims contradict what two senior White House officials told Axios last year when the ad campaign was approved.
- Trump even saw versions of the ads before they were aired. He critiqued one commercial with Noem riding a horse, saying "it wasn't her best," another official said, echoing comments Noem made at last year's CPAC convention.
- "He said: 'I want you in the ads, and I want your face in the ads,' " Noem recalled Trump telling her in February 2025.
- "But," she said Trump told her, "I want [in] the first ad .... I want you to thank me for closing the border."
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