Trump Directly Refuted Kristi Noem’s Senate Testimony Before Firing Her

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump directly refuted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s claims about a pricey ad campaign before firing her from the position.

On Thursday, Trump made the sudden decision to remove Noem at DHS secretary. The president has chosen Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her. In a Truth Social post making the stunning announcement, Trump said:

I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026. The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida. I thank Kristi for her service at “Homeland.”

Days earlier, Noem had a much-maligned performance during a House hearing on government funding. During this hearing, multiple lawmakers grilled Noem’s DHS awarding $220 million in contracts for an ad campaign that prominently featured her. Due to the recipients of those contracts allegedly having ties to Noem, some flagged it as a potential conflict of interest. Noem testified that Trump approved the contracts.

Before announcing the news of Noem’s ouster, however, Trump claimed that was not the case. According to a report from Reuters:

President Donald Trump told Reuters on Thursday that he did not sign ‌off on a $220 million border security advertising campaign featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who faced bipartisan criticism over the commercials during congressional hearings this week.

“I never knew anything about it,” Trump told Reuters in a phone interview.

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