Rachael Bade reports that Trump is done with demoted Homeland Security head Kristi Noem.
“A week after ousting his Homeland Security secretary, President Donald Trump has made it clear to staff and associates: Kristi Noem is not welcome,” reports Bade on her “Inner Circle” substack. “The president has told confidants and staff that he doesn’t want to see Noem.
“He’s p——ed at her and Corey [Lewandowski], and did not want her at the event yesterday,” an anonymous source close to the White House inner circle told Bade.
The former Politico writer and ABC News correspondent reports the former secretary and her team have already been informed in recent days that she is “not on the guest list for a couple of events at the White House, including Thursday’s Women’s History Month celebration, as well as today’s event for rodeo champions.”
The snub allegedly arrived on the heels of that Thursday meeting Trump had with “the most powerful women in his orbit in the East Room” in relation to a Women’s History month celebration. Featured at the meeting were First Lady Melania Trump, Second Lady Usha Vance and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, among others. Even Attorney General Pam Bondi and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer were “spotted.”
Now that Noem is out, Bade reports her and Lewandowski’s detractors in the administration are leaking “unflattering stories” about them, “particularly regarding the dubious process used to award hundreds of millions in contracts.”
Bade notes that many of these leaks have skipped over left-leaning press and gone straight to right-leaning publications Trump frequently reads.
“GOP heavyweights are now circling,” reports Bade. “House Homeland Security Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) told the New York Post that he’s investigating how contracts were won under Noem’s tenure. So too is House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), one of Trump’s most loyal foot soldiers on the Hill.”
But a Noem defender called the claim “fake news,” said Bade, arguing that Noem spoke to Trump as recently as Thursday night and “has been at the White House since her removal.”
“Still, the president’s message has been clear: Trump doesn’t want her around,” said Bade.