🚨“She will be gone soon” — Is Trump about to ax Noem?

Another day, another Noem scandal — but this one, insiders say, feels different...

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pictured during the event at the White House on November 17, 2025. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

NOEM IN THE DOGHOUSE (AGAIN) — Homeland Security Secretary KRISTI NOEM has survived scandal after scandal. But the latest turmoil out of Washington suggests her time may now actually be running out.

Several stories breaking this morning are bringing into sharp focus the perilous nature of Noem’s job.

• President DONALD TRUMP is reportedly venting about Noem’s insistence in a recent congressional hearing that he approved of a taxpayer-funded $220 million ad campaign that touted her leadership at DHS — which was conveniently awarded to her allies that stand to benefit financially.

• Punchbowl News reports that the president has privately been quizzing GOP confidants about whether he should fire her.

• We’re also now getting word that the president has even floated a possible replacement: Sen. MARKWAYNE MULLEN (R-Okla.).

The scuttlebutt comes just days after Sen. JOHN KENNEDY (R-La.) grilled Noem during a Senate Judiciary hearing on whether the president personally signed off on costly taxpayer-funded ads boosting her profile. Noem said he did. But Kennedy told reporters the president disputes that.

“After the hearing, the President of the United States called me, and I’m not going to speak for him… But put it this way: His recollection and her recollection are different,” Kennedy said.

A OFFICIAL CLOSE TO TRUMP just confirmed to me that Noem’s claim was bogus.

“He did not sign off on a $220 MILLION dollar ad campaign. Absolutely not,” the person insisted.

And this jibes with what I reported in December: That the president had been flummoxed by the campaign ads and prodding advisors about the price tag.

SO WAS THIS ALL A PREMEDITATED HIT JOB? Perhaps. As we discussed on our morning YouTube program “The Huddle” yesterday, Kennedy is an ally of the White House and wouldn’t take shots at a sitting Cabinet member without at least some sort of buy-in from the administration.

My co-host SEAN SPICER has heard that that’s exactly what happened.

“I talked to some very senior folks,” he said today on our show. “Growing up in Rhode Island, where allegedly there was a Mafia presence, we would always hear about ‘sanctioned hits.’ And I jokingly said to these folks, ‘This seemed like a sanction hit,’ and they all — to a T — sort of laughed and said, ‘Yep.’”

(Props to Sean, who called out this exact exchange as a big problem for Noem on yesterday’s show. Before anyone realized what was happening, Sean noted that admin officials were upset with Noem’s answer — yet another reason you should all be watching our morning program every day!)

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A CASCADE OF TROUBLE — The hit on Noem is just the latest in an avalanche of bad news for the embattled secretary. Her response to the killings of ALEX PRETTI and RENEE GOOD — labelling them “domestic terrorists” and falsely accusing Pretti of “brandishing” a gun — dragged the administration into a damaging news cycle and created an unforgivable credibility problem with the public. Her handling of the entire Minnesota situation led the president to sideline Noem in favor of Border Czar TOM HOMAN, her rival.

Meanwhile, the WSJ reported this week that Noem is stonewalling requests for information on not one, but 11 investigations at DHS, including one that’s apparently criminal in nature. Axios scooped that White House budget chief RUSS VOUGHT has expressed alarm at Noem diverting border funds to buy a $300 million luxury jet fleet.

And that’s not even touching the swirling accusations of an alleged romantic relationship between Noem and top advisor COREY LEWANDOWSKI, a longtime Trump aide who — while appreciated by the president for his loyalty — is scorned by the rest of Trump’s inner circle for his sharp elbows and unconventional tactics. (Noem refused to address the allegations when pressed by Democrats during a hearing yesterday.)

THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN RELUCTANT TO FIRE officials during his second term, wary of giving the media “a scalp.” But as Trump officials have told me before, sometimes it’s “death by a thousand cuts” in Trump World. If you’re executing on his agenda, the president is happy to waive off one mistake — or two, or maybe even three. But if appointees become a regular liability, the clock starts ticking.

“It’s like a wave cresting: Once the wave crests, you can’t get back — you’re done. And it just becomes a matter of time,” Sean said about falling out of favor with Trump. “So the issue for Noam isn’t that it’s imminent … But she is not going to be resurrected. This is like getting the diagnosis that it’s ‘not good,’ and you have X amount of months left.”

In this case, throwing the boss under the bus may have been the final straw.

“She will be gone soon,” one Trump World insider who is never wrong told me today.

THERE ARE A FEW COMPLICATIONS with axing Noem right now.

For one, DHS — we’ll remind you — is currently shut down, with lawmakers deadlocked on how to reform ICE. With the nation on high alert, given the war with Iran — and the threats to the homeland spiking amid fear of retaliatory terrorist attacks — there are real questions about whether now is the time for a leadership shakeup at such a critical department.

(NOTE: The insider close to Trump’s inner circle told me there are “no concerns about her getting the f--k out.”)

Another complication: The political calendar. As DAN TURRENTINE, our other show co-host, argued today, “you do not want a confirmation in September,” which would mean “litigating Minnesota scar tissue” in hearings just before the midterms.

Republicans could also try to replace Noem before the August recess — or even in the lame duck after the midterms.

As part of the timing question, the White House must also consider the complications of sticking with an official who is going to be a top target for Democrats. Democrats have already made it crystal clear that they intend to try to impeach and investigate Noem if they flip the House. Why not take care of the problem by showing her the door?

A FINAL QUESTION I’LL LEAVE YOU WITH: What’s next for Noem if she gets axed? She’s already served as governor but clearly has broader presidential ambitions. How does she keep herself relevant?

One idea making the rounds in her home of South Dakota: Whether she will challenge Sen. MIKE ROUNDS (R-S.D.), who has at times found himself crosswise with the president.

Local media reported that Noem has basically until the end of March to figure this out.

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👀 🎥 TODAY’S WATCH — Check out today’s episode of our new digital morning show, “THE HUDDLE,” where DAN TURRENTINE, SEAN SPICER, and I peel back the curtain on the latest Minnesota chaos. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel. Or, if you’re more of a listener rather than a watcher, subscribe to our show on Apple or Spotify.

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