What led Trump to replace Kristi Noem

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was already frustrated with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. But his performance at two congressional hearings this week is what ultimately cost him the job, lawmakers and people familiar with the discussions told NBC News.

Noem’s place in the administration has become increasingly volatile after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents during immigration operations in Minneapolis earlier this year, and amid her frayed relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard and other reported infighting within Homeland Security, the officials said.

His firing by the president Thursday in an online post comes after weeks of bad press over DHS immigration enforcement operations, and as support for Trump’s immigration agenda, a top administration priority, has plummeted in recent weeks.

The president had spoken this week with Republican lawmakers about his displeasure with Noem and told them he was considering replacing her, according to Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., two other Republican lawmakers who did not want to be named publicly, a person familiar with White House thinking and three people familiar with the president’s private discussions.

Still, the president’s message on Truth Social published Thursday came as a surprise to Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, whom Trump has said would replace Noem.

Mullin was attending a Senate GOP luncheon when he received a phone call from the White House switchboard, got up and stormed out of the room, leaving behind a plate full of food, according to Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, who said that raised suspicions among Republicans that something was afoot.

“I have to be honest with you, I wasn’t expecting this call today,” Mullin said. “I found out just before you did,” he told reporters.

In a phone interview with NBC News, Trump said Noem was “a great person. She’s done a great job. I’m a big fan of the Oklahoma senator. It wasn’t a difficult choice.”

Mullin is expected to take office on March 31, although he told reporters he hoped his confirmation process would begin immediately and that Noem would take on a new role called “special envoy for the Shield of the Americas.”

Shortly after Trump’s post, Noem appeared in Nashville, Tennessee, at a conference for police union members. Some in the room pictured her when she was coming out.

And she sent out her own social media post on X to thank the president for his new appointment.

“We have made historic achievements at the Department of Homeland Security,” she said.

A former governor of South Dakota, Noem had been at the forefront of Trump’s signature policy agendas: mass expulsions and a crackdown on the U.S.-Mexico border.

But she often found herself under fire from the public. Noem quickly said the Minneapolis shootings of Good, a mother of three, and Pretti, a nurse, by federal agents appeared justified, drawing widespread criticism. Without evidence, she described Good and Pretti as being involved in acts of domestic terrorism, and federal law enforcement investigating the shootings took the unusual step of excluding local authorities. The tension led Trump to send his border czar, Tom Homan, to Minneapolis to help lower the temperature.

Noem is also in conflict with the Coast Guard, the only military branch that reports to the 260,000-person department.

At times, tensions escalated into clashes, NBC News reported. In a controversial incident in May, Noem’s top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, berated Coast Guard aircrew and threatened a pilot for taking off without one of the secretary’s personal items on board — an electric blanket, according to current and former Coast Guard officials.

An administration official told NBC News that Noem’s replacement was based on the culmination of numerous “unfortunate failures of leadership,” including poor personnel management and constant bickering with others within DHS. She is the first Cabinet secretary to depart during Trump’s second term.

“Kristi’s drama has unfortunately overshadowed and distracted from the administration’s wildly popular immigration agenda, which will continue in full force,” the official said.