donald trump

Witness behind Maxwell conviction reported 'graphic' assault from Trump: reporter

Despite however hard Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi may declare the Jeffrey Epstein case finished, it’s likely not, reports Left Hook author Wajahat Ali. Nestled within the Epstein Files, is evidence that the FBI interviewed a woman who credibly accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.

“This woman also accused Jeffrey Epstein, and she successfully settled a lawsuit in 2021 with the Epstein estate,” Ali reports.

“Investigative reporter Roger Sollenberger discovered this bombshell and told Ali that “The allegations and FBI interview are landmark revelations, undermining the White House’s protestations that Trump hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing and showing instead that the U.S. government has been aware of a credible Trump accuser in the Epstein files.”

In the summer of 2025, the DOJ included the redacted woman’s allegation in a 21-page internal slideshow presentation as well as in an internal email chain involving the government investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Ali wrote. But she’s not the not the only credible accuser.

There is another incident that allegedly occurred at Mar-a-Lago in 1994 involving a 14-year-old girl who later became a key government witness against convicted Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Sollenberger says the witness is clearly credible considering DOJ prosecutors used her testimony to convict Maxwell.

“The FBI interviewed this person extensively and then they flagged [her testimony] in a presentation over the summer, six years after [the interview] all went down,” Sollenberger told Ali. “ … It was highly detailed. It lists people who gave proffers. It lists the co-conspirators from the first case. It was a really detailed presentation. And there’s this slide that says ‘prominent names.’ And the first two accusations are against Donald Trump.”

Sollenberger pointed out that the first of her allegations concerns sexual assault.

“They’re graphic and disturbing,” said Sollenberger. “It’s also a violent sexual assault. But then it claims she bit him and he punched her in the head and kicked her out. And the FBI quite clearly found this person credible. … This woman was also a Jeffrey Epstein victim. And would have been one of the earlier accusers,” Sollenberger said.

“This was the mid-1980s,” Sollenberger added. “She would’ve been like 13 or 14 years old. She lawyers up after she gives this tip to the FBI. They go back and forth between her and her legal team. She gets Lisa Bloom’s law firm to represent her in a case that she sued the Epstein estate successfully. She received a settlement.”

Sollenberger pointed out that the details of the suit have already been publicly reported.

“So, you have an Epstein victim who apparently successfully sued the Epstein estate over accusation in the early to mid-1980s, and while this happened, she said one of the people, according to the files, who assaulted her was Donald Trump,” said Solenberger. “So, how do you divorce those two … in terms of credibility?”

“Hey, maybe they didn’t believe this exact claim, even though she’s credible, or maybe she didn’t want to cooperate in the prosecution against the sitting president of the United States because she was terrified. … Who knows?” asked Sollenberger.

Former Trump fixer Lev Parnas later joined the Left Hook podcast and pointed out that Bill Barr, Trump’s Attorney General in his first term, engaged in a campaign to “protect Trump” from his Epstein connection during the traffickers’ prosecution.

When Barr came into office in Jan 19, Parnas said there were “three files” on his desk. One of them involved the Epstein file, likely with details of Trump’s involvement with the notorious criminal.

“Barr was sealing that information and hiding it,” said Parnas.

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Revealed: Trump already made plans to personally profit off of airport name change

President Donald Trump is already hard at work making sure the framework is in place for him to personally make money from his name being added to major airports.

That's according to a Monday article by attorney Josh Gerben, of the firm Gerben IP. Gerben wrote that Trump's holding company that manages his intellectual property — DTTM Operations LLC — filed three trademark applications on February 13 and 14. One is for "President Donald J. Trump International Airport," another is for "Donald J. Trump International Airport" and the third is for "DJT."

The trademark applications were filed on an "intent to use" basis, meaning that Trump aims to stake a claim on the term in question before it is used in commerce. DTTM Operations LLC manages trademarks for the use of Trump's name on a slew of hotels, residential buildings and various consumer products.

If the trademark application is approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, it would mean the president could feasibly get a share of profits from "a range of branded merchandise, including clothing, handbags, luggage, jewelry, watches, and tie clips," per the application. Gerben also noted that the president's name "could be accompanied by a broader licensing program associated with merchandise."

"The move raises unusual questions about the intersection of public infrastructure and private brand ownership," Gerben wrote. "While presidents and public officials have had landmarks named in their honor, a sitting president’s private company has never in the history of the United States sought trademark rights in advance of such naming."

"I should be very clear: these are trademark filings that are completely unprecedented," he added.

The trademark applications were filed roughly a week after it was reported that Trump attempted to hold funding hostage for a $16 billion infrastructure project connecting New Jersey and New York via an underground railway tunnel in exchange for Dulles International Airport to be named after him. He also reportedly wanted Penn Station in New York to bear his name.

In addition to Dulles itself, Trump's third trademark application may also be related to a proposed renaming of moving walkways at the Virginia airport. Susan Saarinen, who is the daughter of the engineer who designed Dulles' transport system, suggested that moving walkways be named "DJTs," or "Direct Jet Transports," in a bid to convince Trump to keep them if they bore his initials.

"It’s a name that fits,” Saarinen told the Washington Post in January. "Mr. Trump would like to name the airport after him, because he likes his name I guess, and he likes to name things. And if a 'DJT' happens to work for that, it works for me."

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'No excuse': MAGA turns on Bannon after Epstein messages reveal plot against Trump

One exchange recently unearthed in the latest tranche of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents shows an exchange between Epstein and Steve Bannon — who was President Donald Trump's chief strategist during his first administration. Now, MAGA activists are demanding Bannon explain an apparent plot to oust Trump via the 25th Amendment.

In the text exchange in December of 2018 and January of 2019 (shortly after Democrats flipped 41 Republican seats in the 2018 midterm elections), Epstein remarked that "emotions are running high" among Democrats he spoke with. Bannon agreed, saying Democrats were "going to blow him up right out of the box." He added that the White House "has zero plan to punch back," comparing Trump's situation to "Fort Apache with no cavalry enroute."

"And no soldiers in the fort," Epstein said. "He is really borderline. Not sure what he may do."

"I think it's beyond borderline. 25 Amendment," Bannon responded, referring to the constitutional amendment laying out the process to have a sitting president removed from office.

The Daily Beast reported Monday that the exchange has set off a firestorm of outrage among MAGA Republicans. Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret.), who served as Trump's first national security advisor until he was fired for lying about being in contact with Russian officials, demanded accountability for Bannon in a post to his X account.

"The WH or at least DOJ needs to come out and say what they plan on doing with this information," Flynn wrote. "I remember all the 25th amendment talk back in the first term. It was really ugly. If Bannon AND Epstein were behind it, Bannon needs to be brought in for questioning. And he needs to address this and all the other s—— he was doing on behalf of Epstein."

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) responded to Flynn's post by writing: "Agree completely. Steve Bannon went to jail for Trump (I was there), but back on 1-1-19 (after Dems took the House) he was texting with Epstein about 25th amendment. Also, there is no excuse for having such a friendly relationship with Epstein, post conviction, 2018-19. None."

Bannon's remarks also caused an outcry among Trump's base. MAGA influencer Catturd tweeted to his four million followers that the exchange was just "only one of thousands of disturbing messages between Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein," and that there were "hundreds" more that were "way worse." U.S. Navy veteran and Trump supporter John Blount concurred, saying Bannon "needs to be dealt with."

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Trump officials subject themselves to 'legal humiliation' out of 'slavish fealty': WSJ

President Donald Trump's administration is creating a reputation for itself of frequently teeing itself up for embarrassing losses in court. Now, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board is arguing that its unprecedented record in the federal judiciary may be a deliberate strategy.

The Journal observed Monday that the Trump administration's failed attempt to prosecute Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) was merely the latest example of the DOJ bringing a flimsy case before a grand jury only to be sent home empty-handed. The Rupert Murdoch-owned paper pointed out that after Trump accused Kelly of "seditious behavior, punishable by death" for urging military service members to remember their duty to disobey illegal orders, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth jumped to action, with the Journal commenting that Hegseth "takes tango lessons whenever Mr. Trump says dance."

Trump's Pentagon chief sent Kelly a "letter of censure" and attempted to dock his retirement pay over his remarks, prompting Kelly to sue the administration. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon — an appointee of former President George W. Bush — admonished the Pentagon from the bench, and reminded the administration that Kelly was guilty of nothing more than expressing his constitutionally guaranteed First Amendment rights.

Insult was added to injury after a grand jury refused to indict Kelly and the five other Democratic lawmakers in the video (all of whom are veterans of the military and intelligence agencies). In addition to returning a "no true bill" verdict, not one grand juror voted in favor of the DOJ's indictment, which is a virtually unprecedented event.

However, the Journal reminded readers that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro — who heads the DOJ's prestigious District of Columbia office — has also struck out with grand juries on multiple occasions. According to the Journal, Trump's DOJ may in fact be more focused on pleasing an audience of one rather than actually having success arguing cases in a court of law.

"This legal humiliation is becoming a habit for Trump officials," the Journal wrote. "... [Pirro] seems to believe that her priority is lawfare instead of pursuing actual criminals. It will be a healthy development if more Americans decide they’ve had enough of political prosecutions."

"Mr. Trump seems to expect slavish fealty in his deputies, or at least his deputies behave as if they think he does," the paper continued. "But as they lose in court, they are doing their reputations no favors."

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Young voters dumping Trump at 'astonishing' rate: GOP pollster

President Donald Trump's once impressive edge with young voters has dried up at an "astonishing" rate, according to noted conservative pollster Sarah Longwell, as he bleeds support from them faster than any other voting bloc.

Longwell, who left the Republican Party last year following Trump's reelection, dissected the latest findings from the Cook Political Report in a Monday piece for The Atlantic. She noted that, while voters aged 18-29 still broke for Democrat Kamala Harris overall in the 2024 election compared to 2020, they made a major swing towards Trump. This swing was driven particularly by young men.

Early on in Trump's first term — March 1, 2025 — this young voter bloc disapproved of him by an approximate seven-point margin, per Longwell. Now, according to new findings as of February 1, his disapproval with those voters has exploded to a margin of 31.8 points.

"It’s tempting to think that this is all happening because of this administration’s blatantly authoritarian and norm-shattering actions," Longwell wrote. "Deploying masked ICE agents into American cities, stonewalling on the Epstein files, demolishing the East Wing, capturing Venezuela’s president, sharing racist videos on social media. All of those actions matter, and are slowly chipping away at Trump’s base of support. But they’re not the whole story—or even the main story—of why Trump is losing young people."

Citing regular focus groups that she runs on a weekly basis, Longwell argued that young voters are turning on Trump primarily for one reason: "Trump is not doing the things that he told Americans he would do to fix prices and the economy." These voters, she added, bought into Trump's promises of economic revival, but are now feeling "duped and let down."

"There are things that are very disappointing and very rough right now," one Gen Z voter from Virginia told Longwell.

"Overall, I think the job market is really hard right now," another from New York added.

“I think things are pretty chaotic lately, honestly,” another from Florida explained. “You just see all this stuff on the news, and you see a lot of people are struggling to find jobs. A lot of people are feeling kind of pessimistic about what things are going on.”

Longwell attributed a lot of this sense of betrayal among younger voters to the fact that many of them were children during Trump's early rise to power and throughout his turbulent first term, and are learning the hard truths about Trump's "con man" tendencies the hard way.

"They don’t view Trump as [unique] or beyond the pale, because he’s been the dominant force in our politics for as long as they’ve been politically aware," Longwell argued. "Now, though, they’re young adults entering the workforce. Many of them have student loans, and they’re at a particularly cost-sensitive point in their lives. They notice when a politician like Trump promises to lower prices, and then doesn’t deliver."

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Trump is proof Founding Fathers were 'tragically wrong' about demagogues: conservative

Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote on her Substack on Monday that the Founding Fathers were “laughably, tragically wrong” in trusting voters to not fall for a demagogue. Because President Donald Trump was reelected despite his first term and the January 6th insurrection, Rubin argued modern Americans will need to add legal reforms to rectify their errors.

"'Right-sizing' the presidency and putting in additional guardrails therefore should be top priorities,” Rubin wrote. “No single solution is going to stop malicious figures from an autocratic putsch, but we can make it much harder for such a figure to do real damage to our democracy."

Arguing existing constitutional safeguards — like the Electoral College, impeachment and the 25th Amendment — are ineffective because of partisanship in Congress, on the Supreme Court and throughout the presidential primaries, Rubin proposed a series of alternative reforms. These include making it a crime “to give or receive a foreign emolument of more than $25 in value (or a domestic emolument of any value),” requiring presidents “to sell or put all business operations and investments in a blind trust before taking office — and, no, letting your sons run your company is not a blind trust,” banning major White House renovations without congressional authorization, banning renaming any federal or quasi-federal organization or structure for a sitting president and banning book/movie/rights deals for any incumbent president or spouse.

“There are many legislative fixes to curtail presidential unilateral power (e.g., war powers, emergency powers, rescission),” Rubin wrote. “But allocating the right for lawmakers or others to bring enforcement actions is essential. Likewise, reviving the Bivens Act to allow civil actions for individuals to recoup damages against any executive branch official could put teeth into presidential restraints.”

Rubin also said that the media and political parties “need to rethink the way we evaluate presidential candidates,” asking foundational questions about democracy and values “(e.g., Do immigrants have rights? Are treaties the law of the land?)” along with specific policy questions.

“We still may not get candid answers, but the responses to those sorts of questions (or hypotheticals about pardons, donors, and financial impropriety) would be a whole lot more revealing than asking about a 24-point plan for legislation that is unlikely to pass,” Rubin wrote. “It is frankly harder to disguise one’s deeply held beliefs (or lack thereof) than to toss out unrealistic political promises.”

Rubin has previously drawn attention to the right-wing revolt against Trump. Speaking with fellow columnist Greg Sargent in January, the two pundits pointed out that Republican officials like Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, New Jersey Republican Jose Arango Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have criticized Trump’s immigration policies.

In September, Rubin also criticized the reports of tantrums emanating from the White House on the ground that “at a moment when Americans who are already financially squeezed face huge cost increases in healthcare, housing and energy, the bratty children at Mar-a-Lago North exist in a world of their own.”

In August, Rubin argued that Trump’s tendency to hire sycophants imperils America’s national security.

"When you have yes-men and yes-women who are completely incompetent in positions of high authority, that leaves us vulnerable,” Rubin said on MSNBC. “You couldn't have done more to destroy our national security infrastructure…. (Trump) is leaving us a sitting duck because he doesn't care about America."

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Judge rules Trump can’t just 'decide what is true'

Editor's note: This headline has been updated, and the article has been updated to include an additional quote from Judge Rufe's order.

A U.S. District judge invoked anti-totalitarian author George Orwell to deliver a sharp rebuke of the Trump administration’s removal of items honoring the history of slavery in the United States from a Philadelphia exhibit.

“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not,” declared U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe.

The lawsuit by the City of Philadelphia against U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum concerned the removal of slavery exhibits at The President’s House, which is part of Independence National Historical Park.

Judge Rufe wrote that, “in its argument, the government claims it alone has the power to erase, alter, remove and hide historical accounts on taxpayer and local government-funded monuments within its control. Its claims in this regard echo Big Brother’s domain in Orwell’s 1984.”

She also quoted from the iconic novel. A portion of that quote reads:

“The largest section of the [government’s] Records Department . . . consisted simply of persons whose duty it was to track down and collect all copies of books, newspapers, and other documents which had been superseded and were due for destruction. A number of the Times [a newspaper] which might, because of changes in political alignment, or mistaken prophesies uttered by Big Brother, have been rewritten a dozen times still stood on the files bearing its original date, and no other copy existed to contradict it.”

Rufe wrote that the U.S. government “asserts truth is no longer self-evident, but rather the property of the elected chief magistrate and his appointees and delegees, at his whim to be scraped clean, hidden, or overwritten. And why? Solely because, as Defendants state, it has the power.”

She also blasted the government’s actions, which “impede the separation of powers instituted by the Constitution.”

“Defendants acted in excess of their authority as agencies authorized by Congress within the executive branch,” she added. "An agency ... cannot arbitrarily decide what is true, based on its own whims or the whims of the new leadership."

In her 40-page memorandum, posted by Politico’s Kyle Cheney, Judge Rufe found that removal of historical panels and other items would constitute irreparable harm, and ordered that “Defendants reinstall all panels, displays, and video exhibits that were previously in place..”

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Republicans are realizing 'Trump-worship' is a losing strategy: Fox News analyst

Republican analyst Juan Williams is arguing that Republicans are retiring from Congress at historic levels because President Donald Trump is increasingly unpopular.

“You’d quit, too,” Williams wrote in his recent editorial for The Hill. Breaking down the logic of the many Republican legislators with whom he has spoken, Williams described it as dozens of them independently picking “Option One” from the list: “Option One: They can quit. Option Two: They can keep silent on alarming polls showing low public approval for Trump and his Republican Party as the midterms approach. Option Three: Accept that there is a price to be paid for Trump-worship.”

Williams added that while “blindly jumping on the Trump bandwagon” helped Republicans win the presidential and legislative elections in 2024, “now the cost of their idolatry is piling up for Republicans remaining in Washington as Trump begins his final days.”

As one example, Williams noted that Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), decided not to run for reelection. Nehls said that “if Donald Trump says, ‘jump three feet high and scratch your head,’ we all jump three feet high and scratch our head” after Trump won the 2024 election.

Williams also quoted Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned from her Georgia US House seat earlier this year, saying that by remaining in office she would “be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me,” a scenario Greene described as “absurd and completely unserious.”

“Greene’s forecast of bad weather for House Republicans who stay around for Trump’s remaining time in office now looks spot on,” Williams added. “Last week, six House Republicans voted against Trump on tariffs. He immediately took to social media to attack and threaten them.”

Overall 51 House members and 12 senators have so far decided not to run for reelection, on track for the most departures from Congress this century. That group of 63 retirees includes 36 Republicans. Currently, Fox polls show 61 percent disapproval of Trump’s performance on the economy, 62 percent disapproval of his performance on health care costs and 64 percent disapproval of his performance on inflation and tariffs. The voters most motivated to vote prefer Democrats at a rate of 52 percent, “the highest recorded for either party. In 2017, the last time it was even close (50 percent), House Republicans lost their majority later in that cycle.”

Williams has previously sounded the alarm to fellow Republicans about Democrats’ chances in the 2026 midterm elections.

"Epstein remains a problem for Republicans as Congress returns,” Williams wrote in September. “But there are fires everywhere. And should Democrats take control in 2026, a third Trump impeachment will be on the table.”

Williams has also harshly criticized Republicans like the former Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for trying to distance themselves from the mess they helped to create with the current president.

"The bad news for McConnell is that despite his decades towering over Washington as a top GOP leader, he is now eclipsed by President Trump's takeover of his party," Williams wrote. "Trump has called McConnell 'a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack' and warned that Republicans would lose if they remained aligned with him. And Trump issued a racially pointed insult to McConnell's wife. McConnell didn’t fire back."

Adding that McConnell voted to acquit Trump after his coup attempt on January 6, 2021, Williams concluded that his attempts to “regain some dignity by defying Trump with votes against Trump's nominations of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary” are "too little too late."

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Trump's self-enrichment violates this core 5-word principle: ex-White House attorney

Estimates of President Donald Trump's net worth vary, but according to Fortune, it was $7.3 billion in late 2025 — a major increase from $3.9 billion in 2024. Bloomberg News, on January 20, estimated the Trump family's net worth to be around $6.8 billion.

Trump, Time reports, has found a variety of ways to add to his wealth since returning to the White House, from Trump Media & Technology Group to cryptocurrencies and Trump-branded merchandise.

In a biting op-ed published by MS NOW on February 16, Ian Bassin — executive director of Protect Democracy and former associate White House counsel under former President Barack Obama — argues that Trump is doing everything he can to monetize his presidency and is denigrating the White House in the process.

"'Be allergic to free stuff' — that's the line I used to deliver in every ethics training I gave to White House staff when I was associate White House counsel under President Barack Obama," Bassin explains. "It captured, in plain English, a core principle of public service: You are there to serve the public, not your own interests, and even small gifts corrode judgment and squander the public trust. It feels resonant this Presidents Day to understand that the opposite has become the norm, despite what our founders envisioned."

Bassin continues, "The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a $500 million transaction between an Emirati royal and President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency firm, World Liberty Financial, that had sent $187 million to entities tied to the Trump family just four days before his 2025 inauguration. Amazingly, this has all but fallen out of the news."

Trump's actions, according to Bassin, not only raise ethics concerns, but also, "national security" concerns.

"When I told staff to be allergic to free stuff," Bassin recalls, "I said not to accept so much as a can of soda from anyone with business before the White House. Yet here's a report of something orders of magnitude more significant, and as a nation, we barely paid it any mind. That's a dangerous mistake. What the Journal report describes threatens not just the public trust or public decision-making, but also, our national security ... As we advised White House staff: Even the appearance of something untoward squanders the public trust."

Bassin adds: "Now, some federal ethics rules and statutes apply to the president while some regulations apply only to staff. Some past presidents, including the one I worked for, insisted on voluntarily adhering to the highest standards whether they legally applied to them or not."

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'Only downhill from here': Pollster reveals Trump's popularity now slipping even with MAGA

Democratic pollster Fernand Amandi argues numbers don'tt lie, and right now they’re saying the president is sinking in popularity even with his own previously diehard supporters.

MS NOW anchor Chris Hayes reported another brutal week of polling for President Donald Trump, with Trump rolling in at near-record lows in at least three different credible polls averaging between 39 percent and 36 percent. One particular YouGov poll even discovered more voters saying Joe Biden did a better job by a margin of six points.

Issues with the economy were definitely coming into play, said Maria Teresa Kumar, who is president of the group Voto Latino.

“Another headline is that for the very first time high net worth earners, people making more than $150,000, have a 20 percent delinquency rate on their credit cards. And you're starting to see that they're not paying their auto loans, and you're starting to see that they're going back on their mortgages,” said Kumar. “When high net worth earners are saying, ‘wait a second, I'm feeling a crunch,’ you know that it's only downhill from here for the Trump administration.”

Turning to Amandi, Hayes pointed out that Trump's numbers were formerly nine or 10 points in the green on the economy, but are now his worst issue.

“I guess my question to you is does it mean he has a lower floor this time because of how central the economy is to people?” asked hayes.

“Not only does it mean he has a lower floor, what it means is these declining numbers suggest for the first time ever, it's now eating into his MAGA base,” answered Amandi. “These numbers that you're seeing drop on the economy. Yeah. That’s MAGA voters saying, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, you promised prices are going to go down on day one. You're going to do all these things on day one. And it's now more than a year into the presidency.’ That's why I think he’s in a spiral of irrelevancy as a lame duck-ness that's not going to go away.

“[The economy] was the only reason he was reelected,” Amandi added, “and it's not going to come back unless there is a massive turnaround in the economy over the next couple of months. And I just don't see that happening.”

- YouTube youtu.be

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Kristi Noem's job 'no longer secure': White House official

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem may soon be headed for the exits, according to an unnamed official in President Donald Trump's White House.

The Atlantic reported Friday that Noem may have already been on thin ice in the wake of multiple high-profile incidents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in which federal agents killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in broad daylight. Trump pulled out Gregory Bovino — Noem's chosen face of Operation Metro Surge — and replaced him with immigration advisor Tom Homan. Now, the Atlantic is reporting Trump is considering abandoning Noem altogether.

"In public, Trump has continued to praise Noem and shrug off calls for her resignation. But White House officials have privately grown frustrated with her performance, as Republican midterm strategists raise alarms about the political damage," the Atlantic reported. "One person familiar with the discussions told us that Noem’s position is no longer secure, even though the president has not yet moved against her."

Congress recently left Washington D.C. for the President's Day recess without agreeing on a deal to fund DHS, meaning Noem's agency is now shut down until further notice. The Atlantic reported that the DHS secretary's planned trips to New Orleans, Louisiana, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other stops have been cancelled, as the trips were not deemed to be mandatory.

While Trump is loath to fire Noem due to his famous "no scalps" policy in which he seeks to deny the media the satisfaction of reporting on turnover in his administration, he is also reportedly hesitant to fire her due to his longstanding relationship with Corey Lewandowski — Noem's top advisor and the president's one-time campaign manager. However, the two are in particularly hot water following a lengthy Wall Street Journal report detailing their chaotic leadership of DHS.

Noem's policy of personally approving any expenditure over $100,000 — which she first implemented last summer — has also led to frustration within DHS, according to the Atlantic. The outlet reported Noem's insistence on being a bottleneck for major expenditures has led to "infighting and finger-pointing." The Journal's report mentioned one instance in which Noem let a border wall construction contract sit unsigned on her desk for months while steel prices skyrocketed. By the time Noem signed it, the money allocated had been projected to build significantly less of the wall. Despite the controversy, the administration continues to publicly stand by Noem.

"President Trump and Secretary Noem have ensured the most secure border in our Nation’s history and our homeland is undoubtedly safer today than it was when the President took office last year," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Atlantic. "The President continues to have full confidence in the Secretary."

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