Allies of outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are pushing back against criticism surrounding her departure from the Department of Homeland Security, offering a counternarrative after President Donald Trump announced she would step down at the end of the month.
According to reporting from The Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese, sources close to Noem say tensions had been building between the secretary and the Trump White House for some time. One administration official told Reese that Noem had expressed concerns directly to the president late last year about what she viewed as insufficient support from the administration.
The official said that at the end of 2025, “Noem told Trump and his White House that she was not getting the support she needed.” The source added that Trump acknowledged those concerns and took steps to address them, which temporarily improved the situation.
However, the relationship reportedly deteriorated again following a controversial incident in Minneapolis in which federal agents shot and killed two Americans. According to the official who spoke with Reese, Noem believed she was unfairly blamed in the aftermath of the incident.
“Noem felt that she was thrown under the bus,” the official said.
The disagreement over the circumstances surrounding Noem’s departure has also extended to a controversial advertising campaign tied to the Department of Homeland Security. The campaign, reportedly valued at roughly $220 million, featured Noem prominently and has drawn scrutiny in Washington.
One official who spoke with Reese challenged the president’s claim that he was unaware of the campaign, telling The Daily Caller that “the White House was aware of Noem’s ad contract.” The same official asserted that senior officials within the administration had participated in approving the funding.
“Senior White House officials were even involved in getting the funds approved,” the official said.
President Trump, however, publicly rejected the assertion that he knew about the campaign. Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, the president directly refuted Noem’s claim that he had approved the advertising effort.
Another administration official offered a sharply different interpretation of the situation, dismissing the idea that Noem’s departure stemmed from a lack of support from the White House.
“It’s laughable that Kristi is trying to blame her own self-inflicted issues on someone else,” the official told Reese. “The issues that led to Kristi’s replacement were a result of her own wrongdoings, not a lack of support from the White House.”
Additional reporting from Fox News also highlighted several controversies that reportedly contributed to the decision to replace Noem.
Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich reported Thursday that Noem’s removal was tied to what sources described as “a combination of her many unfortunate leadership failures, from Minnesota, to the ad campaign, to the allegations of an affair.”
Those allegations involved Corey Lewandowski, who has also reportedly been removed from his position.
Heinrich also pointed to questions surrounding the advertising campaign that featured Noem riding on horseback near Mount Rushmore as part of a border security message. Lawmakers raised concerns about the roughly $200 million effort and its approval process.
“Secretary Noem was questioned about the $200 million in advertising that she authorized that featured her prominently on horseback at Mount Rushmore,” Heinrich reported. “It was an ad campaign about border security.”
According to Heinrich, Noem told Congress that the president had approved the campaign, despite reports suggesting that he had not.
Heinrich also noted that during the controversy surrounding Lewandowski, Noem “never denied sexual relations” with him.
As the end of her tenure approaches, competing accounts from allies and critics highlight the growing dispute over what ultimately led to the homeland security secretary’s exit.
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