Wall Street Journal writer Josh Dawsey says the White House is growing increasingly frustrated with the antics of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, though he noted President Donald Trump is loathe to fire anyone in his second administration out of bitterness to his enemies.
“The president has told senior officials in the administration he does not want to fire Cabinet secretaries at this time. And he wished that he wouldn't have had to fire so many people in the first time. And it led to leaks and drama and he doesn't want to give scalps to his critics or the media,” Dawsey told MS NOW anchor Katy Tur. “So, I think that's one reason you see some survivals."
Noem currently faces bipartisan frustration in Congress after she falsely claimed Minnesota resident Alex Pretti was “a domestic terrorist” who was “brandishing” a gun and was intent on “killing law enforcement”—a lie for which she has yet to apologize.
More recently, the Wall Street Journal exposed Noem’s unpredictable behavior, revealing she had fired a federal employee for leaving her blanket on a plane.
“Within DHS, Noem and Lewandowski frequently berate senior level staff, give polygraph tests to employees they don’t trust and have fired employees—in one incident, Lewandowski fired a U.S. Coast Guard pilot after Noem’s blanket was left behind on a plane, according to people familiar with the incident,” Dawsey reported in WSJ.
Then, the simmering criticism boiled over within the last few months with the killings of Minneapolis, Minnesota residents by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Noem’s policies and publicity moves backfired in Minneapolis, prompting some in Trump’s inner circle to try to persuade him to fire Noem and her top adviser, Corey Lewandowski.
Dawsey confirmed “there's widespread frustration” with Noem inside the White House, but Trump refuses to fire her, at least for now.
“By all intents and purposes, he does still support her, even though many of his aides and advisers have been frustrated. But, you know, you've watched the president for a long time, Katy. He supports someone until suddenly he doesn't. You know, sometimes so and so has his support, has his support, has his support — and then they're out.”
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