Trump fires Kristi Noem

A company called Safe America Media was incorporated just 11 days before landing roughly $143 million in no-bid DHS contracts to produce ads urging immigrants to self-deport. The ads starred Noem herself, riding a horse at Mount Rushmore in what amounted to a taxpayer-funded vanity project, according to the Wall Street Journal. DHS cited "urgency" to justify skipping competitive bidding on the $220 million campaign, and several contractors had personal connections to Noem — including one whose CEO is married to her former DHS spokesperson.

On March 3, Sen. John Kennedy grilled Noem about the spending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Under oath, Noem said Trump "signed off on" the ads. The White House contradicted her through NBC News: "The president did not sign off on the ad campaign." Kennedy said Trump was "pissed" and that "his recollection and her recollection are different."

Two days later, Trump fired her. He announced on Truth Social that Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will replace Noem as DHS Secretary effective March 31. Noem gets a consolation prize — a new title called "Envoy for The Shield of the Americas," described as a Western Hemisphere security initiative to be announced Saturday in Doral, Florida. Whatever that means.

Sen. Tillis called Noem's DHS leadership a "disaster." DHS itself claims the ad campaign prompted 2.2 million self-deportations and saved $39 billion, numbers that are doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Mullin, a former pro MMA fighter and the only Native American senator, will need Senate confirmation. Asked about the job, he said: "I just don't want to talk about that right now. We'll discuss it later."

Previously:

• DHS secretly paid firm tied to Kristi Noem in $220M ad campaign
• Noem's "Right people voting" comment sparks concern over DHS role in elections
• Kristi Noem buys herself two Gulfstream jets using $172 million in taxpayer money