'Disgraced' Trump official moved to 'extraordinary' new job

Ex-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem sworn in as she testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

A Trump administration official and former senior aide to Kristi Noem was recently "disgraced" after a bruising story came to light, but according to a new report from The Daily Beast, she has moved on to an "extraordinary" new position, all the more alarming given her recent conduct.

Earlier this month, The Daily Beast turned up court documents revealing that Karen Evans, the one-time acting director of FEMA under fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, had been caught "intentionally destroying" workplace correspondence, which she had previously been ordered to retain as evidence in a lawsuit dealing with President Donald Trump's efforts to gut the disaster response agency. This included deleting messages sent on the communications app, Signal, which members of the administration have been caught using for under-the-radar talks repeatedly. Some of the group chats in which messages were deleted included Noem and her top lieutenant, Corey Lewandowski.

On Tuesday, the outlet's investigative Substack, PunchUp, published a follow-up report on Evans, revealing that instead of being let go, she was moved to an eyebrow-raising new role within the administration.

"After Donald Trump, 80, fired Noem in March, Evans was dumped as FEMA’s acting administrator after less than six months in the role," The Daily Beast detailed. "But rather than following her boss out of the door, she was made the department’s director of the Waste, Fraud and Abuse Task Force — three weeks before the court found her to have deleted evidence, PunchUp reports."

One anonymous source within the department, described as "beleaguered" in the report, gave the outlet a blunt response to this news.

"That sounds pretty appropriate for this admin," the insider said.

"Evans’s actions have brought grave consequences for the Trump administration," the report added. "The ruling by [Judge Susan] Illston, a Clinton appointee, means the court will now assume the missing messages would have helped prove that DHS directed and carried out the plan to slash FEMA staffing."

Evans reportedly returned to DHS 15 days prior to the judge's ruling, beginning her new role leading the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. DHS undersecretary for management Brian Cavanaugh issued a statement about Evans taking on the role, praising her for her "extensive background in federal IT and cybersecurity leadership, along with her deep experience in public service."

"But as PunchUp notes, Judge Illston’s ruling raises questions about why Evans still runs a task force dedicated to rooting out fraud after the finding, and what Cavanaugh and the department knew when she was rehired," the report noted. "DHS was asked whether Evans has faced any disciplinary measures over the destruction of government records, and if it still considers Evans an appropriate official to lead its efforts to combat fraud. Declining to comment on whether Evans had faced sanctions, the department said it was grateful for her service and work at DHS."

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