The White House rejected allegations on Sunday that President Donald Trump is considering firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, calling the report “fake news.”
“Secretary Noem is doing a great job implementing the President’s agenda and Making America Safe Again,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a post to X.
The statement responded to a recent Bulwark report claiming that it was “made clear that Trump is indeed considering moving on from Noem,” based on three former Department of Homeland Security officials who “are still in touch with current staff.”
Jackson denounced the outlet for relying on the sources to make the allegations.
“Anonymous former staffers pretend to know what POTUS is thinking and the Bulwark treats them as credible?” she questioned.
“This ‘report’ — and the Bulwark — is total FAKE NEWS!” the White House spokeswoman continued.
The Bulwark report also noted that top Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski, who serves under Noem, denied rumors that the president is contemplating moving on from the homeland security secretary.
“Lewandowski called bulls*** on any talk of turnover. ‘None of that is true,’ he said Thursday evening,” the outlet reported.
As head of the DHS, Noem has been responsible for overseeing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, the primary agencies tasked with carrying out Trump’s sweeping deportation agenda.
Tensions at the department have been rising due to internal disagreements about how to carry out immigration operations and concerns about quotas set by White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, according to reporting from the Washington Examiner.
And externally, Noem’s DHS has faced growing pushback from Democrats over tactics the department is deploying to target illegal immigrants, and more.
“Examples of potentially unlawful activity by federal law enforcement agents include use of excessive force, unlawful searches or arrests, wrongful detentions, interference with voting, or other civil-rights violations,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said last week as the state rolled out a new portal allowing the public to upload documentation of alleged illegal acts committed by ICE and CBP.
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As hostilities rise, Noem has faced a “surge” in death threats and “vicious doxing,” according to the DHS.
“Following the media’s publishing of the location of Secretary Noem’s Washington, DC apartment, she has faced vicious doxing on the dark web and a surge in death threats, including from the terrorist organizations, cartels, and criminal gangs that DHS targets,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in August. “Due to threats and security concerns, she has been forced to temporarily stay in secure military housing.”
