Trump on Noem: Hell No, She Won’t Go

Easy to say this now. It may be tougher to stick to it, depending on how court cases develop and where public opinion goes.

Donald Trump acted relatively quickly to reset the situation in Minneapolis after the second shooting involving Homeland Security personnel in the last three weeks. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Trump grew unhappy over the weekend with both the shooting itself and the way in which DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino handled the messaging and the aftermath. That led Trump to put Tom Homan in charge in Minnesota, answering directly to him and bypassing Noem and Bovino, and reaching some level of accommodation with Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey. 

Walz and Frey have their own needs for de-escalation as well. The rapprochement resulted in local law enforcement finally intervening last night to keep the peace:

Minnesota State Patrol has now been activated. They could have done this the whole time, but it wasn’t until after the call between Walz and Trump, and the discovery of the Signal groups involving Minnesota government officials, that this happened.pic.twitter.com/nTTAtRgZ3r

— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) January 27, 2026

Homan remains in Minnesota, engaging directly with Walz and Frey. Bovino got sent elsewhere. Noem has been pushed to the sidelines as Homan fills the role that a Cabinet Secretary would normally perform. That isn’t enough for progressive Democrats, who want Noem’s head on a platter after the Minneapolis operation ended up with a body count. Hakeem Jeffries threatened an impeachment action this afternoon, which is mainly just a performative vent at the moment, as well as a way to force Republicans to cast votes defending Noem, if he can even get an article of impeachment on the floor at all. 

Normally, Trump wouldn’t give a fig what progressive Democrats say, but this morning a more respected voice spoke out to demand Noem’s departure, as Fox News reported:

.@POTUS @realDonaldTrump: I make a direct appeal to immediately fire @Sec_Noem.

Americans have died.

She is betraying DHS’s core mission and trashing your border security legacy.

DO NOT make the mistake President Biden made for not firing a grossly incompetent DHS Secretary.

— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) January 27, 2026

We’ll come back to Sen. John Fetterman’s last point shortly. At least for now, however, Trump insists that he doesn’t plan to ask for Noem’s resignation, although this clip doesn’t sound particularly enthusiastic:

REPORTER: “Is @Sec_Noem going to step down?”@POTUS: “No.” pic.twitter.com/T9xITpft2I

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 27, 2026

That was this morning. Last night, Trump met with both Noem and Corey Lewandowski to the Oval Office for a “frank conversation” about the mess in Minneapolis. The meeting lasted for two hours and didn’t reach a conclusion on Noem’s status, but it did make clear that Trump was not happy about Noem’s handling of the shooting, according to the New York Times:

The meeting came after Ms. Noem requested to see the president, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Mr. Trump did not suggest during the meeting that either Ms. Noem’s or Mr. Lewandowski’s jobs were at risk, the people said. But it was the latest sign the president is concerned about the bipartisan criticism of the administration’s response to the killing of Alex Pretti, who was shot at roughly 10 times by immigration agents on Saturday after he was apparently filming them with his phone camera.

Ms. Noem has been the face of the administration’s immigration crackdown, and she has been among the most vocal in spreading false accusations against Mr. Pretti, including labeling him a “domestic terrorist.”

The Oval Office meeting also included several of Mr. Trump’s top aides, including Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, and Steven Cheung, his communications director. Stephen Miller, a top aide to Mr. Trump who oversees the administration’s immigration strategy, was not part of the meeting.

Miller’s absence seems rather ominous for Noem, especially since other Trump advisers participated in the meeting. That was the prelude for Trump’s brusque “no” this morning, and perhaps his lack of expansiveness suggests he’s not terribly happy with the exchange last night. When Trump wants to defend his appointees, he’s not usually reticent in doing so and in rejecting the question entirely. 

Besides, Noem is still sidelined by Tom Homan at the point of the spear. That’s not going to change soon for either Noem or Bovino, and Homan’s elevation to direct presidential report on matters in Noem’s portfolio makes a pretty clear statement on where Trump’s confidence lies. The question of Noem’s status may end up being more subtle, Erick Erickson suggests:

I don’t think Noem will be fired. I think she’ll be Tulsi Gabbarded, i.e. ignored and used as window dressing.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 27, 2026

The two situations aren’t analogous. It appears that Trump has lost confidence in Gabbard, who was reportedly excluded from the Nicolas Maduro operation in Venezuela, but Gabbard hasn’t done anything to make herself into a political liability either. It’s easier to use John Ratcliffe at CIA as a workaround for now rather than open up a can of worms in attempting to replace Gabbard as director of national intelligence, especially given the tenor of the Senate at the moment. 

That’s clearly not the case with Noem, whose own ill-informed declarations in the wake of the Alex Pretti shooting has made her a major political and PR liability. This gets back to Fetterman’s final point, which is well worth considering. Cabinet Secretaries exist in part to serve as handy ways to deflect blame from the president. Joe Biden (or his regents) never learned that lesson. The best way to address the political liabilities arising from Minneapolis while still being able to continue the mission of immigration enforcement would be to dismiss Noem and appoint a new Homeland Security Secretary to restore confidence in the mission. Homan would probably be a good choice for that role, and Senate Democrats would be hard-pressed to make him an issue. It might also head off a government shutdown, or at least keep it as short as possible.  

Unlike Biden, Trump has gotten rid of Cabinet secretaries and other officials to deal with political blowback. He could keep Noem in the Gabbard Limbo, but that doesn’t actually solve any problems and would complicate running DHS in the long run. Trump also doesn’t like to retreat in the face of criticism, but he’s already pulled back in Minnesota, a move necessitated by Noem to some degree. Don’t be surprised if Noem takes a walk by the end of the week. In the end, the mission matters more than the personnel. 

Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.

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