President Donald Trump questioned former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s approval of a costly ad campaign prominently featuring herself.
Noem has repeatedly claimed, including during congressional testimony on Tuesday, that Trump personally asked her to craft the DHS ad campaign, which cost over $220 million. But the president publicly disputed the secretary’s story on Thursday, saying, “I didn’t know about it.” The same day, Trump fired Noem and replaced her with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).
“I wasn’t thrilled with it. I spent less money than that to become president,” Trump said of the campaign during an NBC News interview.
IRAN’S SPRAY-AND-PRAY STRATEGY AIMS TO WIDEN THE BATTLEFIELD, SPREAD CONSEQUENCES
The roughly 60-second spot followed Noem riding around on a horse and rounding up buffalo, along with montages of Trump and law enforcement officials.
“Anyone who searches for freedom can always find a home here, but that freedom’s a precious thing, and we defend it vigorously,” Noem says in the ad. “From President Trump and me, welcome home.”
At the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference, Noem told attendees that Trump had asked her to craft the ad to thank him for his work at the border. “He said, ‘I want the first ad, I want you to thank me,’” Noem said. “I said, ‘Yes, sir. I will.’”
Noem repeated a version of that story during a Senate Judiciary hearing on Tuesday, when she faced bipartisan criticism over the ad. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) suggested it was inappropriate that Noem was so prominently featured in the spot, and that she had authorized it to build out her national profile. The senator said he found it “hard to believe” that Trump had signed off on the ad, telling Noem, “it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot.”
Kennedy later revealed that Trump called him up following the hearing. The senator suggested that the president, whom he described as “not a happy cowboy,” expressed outrage about Noem’s testimony and asked him for input on Mullin.
“He was mad as a murder hornet. He asked me what I thought about Markwayne. ‘A’, I like him. ‘B’ He’s very smart. ‘C’ He’s a very good businessman,” Kennedy said. “I remember thinking that the secretary’s pretty much as dead as fried chicken.”
‘TOO MANY COOKS’: IS FLOODING THE ZONE HURTING TRUMP’S IRAN MESSAGE
Thursday, Trump confirmed he was firing Noem and appointing Mullins to fill her spot. The president did not lambaste the fallen secretary in his announcement, as he has been known to do with previous appointees who fell out of his favor.
Noem “has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results,” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social. “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.’”