'Screaming at everybody': Trump official making life miserable at DHS

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attends a "Five Eyes" security alliance summit for talks on people smuggling and child sexual abuse, in London, Britain, September 8, 2025. REUTERS/Jack Taylor

During the 2024 presidential race, then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem had hopes of becoming GOP nominee Donald Trump's running mate. But the "Puppygate" controversy — Noem, in her book, bragged about fatally shooting a puppy on a farm — drew so much negative publicity that she was reportedly removed from consideration. And Trump went with now-Vice President JD Vance.

Nonetheless, Trump appointed Noem to an important position in his administration: secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—an agency that, according to the Daily Beast's Janna Brancolini, is a very toxic work environment under Noem's watch.

Brancolini, in an article published on September 22, describes a recent tantrum from Noem — whose detractors mock her as "ICE Barbie."

"Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem screamed at department officials and dropped multiple f-bombs after a series of news articles revealed how the secretary's policies had plunged the agencies she oversees into chaos," Brancolini explains. "Noem announced, in June, that she needed to personally sign off on all payments exceeding $100,000, compared to a previous threshold of $25 million, leading to widespread delays and bottlenecks. In July, the secretary waited four days to sign off on crucial aid for Texas flood victims, delaying the deployment of Urban Search and Rescue crews and leaving thousands of disaster-assistance unanswered because the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hadn't renewed a contract for hundreds of call center workers."

The Daily Beast reporter continues, "The Transportation Security Administration also allowed a contract for airport-screening equipment to lapse, as did contracts for immigration-enforcement reports and polygraph tests for candidates applying for law enforcement jobs. After the contract approval delays were reported in the press, Noem and her de facto chief of staff Corey Lewandowski — a former adviser to President Donald Trump — called DHS officials to complain, according to a new report from New York Magazine."

Interviewed on condition of anonymity by that publication, a DHS staffer told New York Magazine, "They were screaming. The level of disrespect and screaming at everybody in that room — I think people were really shocked and taken aback."

Although Lewandowski's position with DHS is unofficial, he reportedly carries a lot of weight there.

A DHS official, also quoted anonymously, told New York Magazine, "It's the Corey show over there." And another DHS source said, " People are scared s—— of Corey…. he can't get along with anybody."

Read Janna Brancolini's full Daily Beast article at this link (subscription required).

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