On Thursday, President Trump announced he has reassigned Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and will replace her with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla).
“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026,” he announced on Truth Social.
Trump thanked Noem for her service, stating the former South Dakota senator “has served us well.”
Noem, 54, will likely be at least temporarily replaced by Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar, a Navy veteran and former mayor of Los Alamitos, California, in the line of succession for the agency.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that he was moving Kristi Noem from DHS and she “will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida.”
House before Trump officially fired Noem, Punchbowl News reported Trump had privately asked Republican lawmakers whether he should fire Noem following a series of bruising congressional hearings this week.
The conversations reportedly took place after Noem testified before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, where she faced pointed questioning over the administration’s immigration crackdown and a controversial government-funded advertising campaign tied to the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump was said to be particularly irritated by Noem’s exchange with Senator John Kennedy (R-LA). During the hearing, Kennedy pressed the DHS secretary on whether the president had personally approved a $220 million advertising campaign that prominently featured Noem. President Donald Trump has reportedly floated Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as a possible replacement for Noem.
Kennedy repeatedly asked whether Trump had signed off on the effort and warned that the situation could politically backfire on the president. He cautioned that the campaign risked putting Trump “in a terribly awkward spot.”
The Louisiana Republican also questioned why the advertising contract was awarded to a firm run by the husband of Noem’s former DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
Moving to another agency Non Cabinet level
Well crap. Don’t we need him in the Senate for voting purposes???