Department of Homeland Security

Kristi Noem's Lies About DHS Shootings Don't Seem To Have Figured in Trump's Decision To Fire Her

The president himself portrayed Renée Good and Alex Pretti as would-be murderers, and he did not seem troubled by the homeland security secretary's slander of them.

Jacob Sullum | 3.6.2026 3:10 PM

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"A president who valued honesty, transparency, and accountability would already have canned" Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, I wrote on Wednesday. President Donald Trump did just that the next day. Like me, Trump reportedly was troubled by Noem's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, but for different reasons. Since his decision apparently had little or nothing to do with Noem's lies about the use of deadly force by her underlings, it should not be read as a sign that the president is concerned about such things.

"The final straw for Trump was Noem's combative hearing Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee," The Wall Street Journal reported. "The president watched the testimony and was apoplectic about her performance, telling advisers that evening he would remove her from the job, according to people familiar with the matter."

What, specifically, angered Trump? Was it Noem's refusal to admit that she had recklessly tarred Minneapolis protesters Renée Good and Alex Pretti as domestic terrorists after DHS employees fatally shot them? Nope.

"Noem's decision to allot more than $200 million for an ad campaign, featuring herself urging those living illegally in the U.S. to self-deport, had already rankled the president for months for its self-promotional style," the Journal noted. "At the hearing, Noem told senators that the president had signed off on the ad campaign—an assertion that upset Trump, who told senators and advisers he hadn't signed off on such a campaign."

The New York Times has a similar take: "The immediate catalyst for Ms. Noem's firing appeared to be her answers during two congressional hearings this week, particularly her under-threat-of-perjury statements that Mr. Trump had approved of tens of millions of dollars of government ads in which she was prominently featured. Mr. Trump denied that to Reuters on Thursday, saying, 'I never knew anything about it.'"

As Reason's Autumn Billings noted on Wednesday, that ad campaign raised serious concerns about the use of taxpayer money, including the dubious justification for........

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