D.H.S. Regime Change & The Cruz–Hegseth War

Kristi Noem
The president relayed his decision on Truth Social after Noem gave two disastrous days of testimony to House and Senate committees this week. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Leigh Ann Caldwell
March 5, 2026

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On Thursday, President Donald Trump finally broke his second-term “no scalps” rule, announcing that D.H.S. Secretary Kristi Noem would be leaving the job and replaced by Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin. Noem, of course, was the controversial face of Trump’s immigration crackdown, who not only rushed to label two Americans “domestic terrorists” after they were killed by federal agents in Minnesota, but also took heat for more prosaic petty corruption and mismanagement: spending taxpayer money on luxury planes, directing departmental contracts to her associates’ spouses, and allegedly sleeping with a subordinate. (Noem and Corey Lewandowski have both repeatedly denied having an affair.)