A bombshell Wall Street Journal report says the Interior Department is in “ongoing chaos” under the leadership of the secretary of state Kristi NoemPaints a portrait of a department in which high-profile repression, glossy photos and internal power struggles collided behind closed doors. According to the newspaper’s sources, Noem has relied heavily on high-profile immigration enforcement — complete with agency-branded body armor and carefully staged imagery — while sidelining critics and consolidating control.The Wall Street Journal cited department insiders who were highly critical of Noem’s rule and painted the secretary of state as a politician trying to “elevate his personal star at every turn.”Noem has “staged a high-profile immigration crackdown while sidelining rivals and dissidents,” the newspaper said, noting that the secretary of state likes to wear agency-branded body armor and hats and hold guns as props, “all with an eye for her style, and hair and makeup that’s TV-worthy.”Here are some of the main accusations leveled against the minister.
Missing blanket leads to Coast Guard pilot fired
Missing blanket leads to firing of Coast Guard pilot. Among the bizarre controversies was a claim that Noem ordered the firing of a Coast Guard pilot after she was forced to move from one plane to another due to maintenance issues, leaving a favorite blanket in the mess.According to the Wall Street Journal, the pilot was suddenly told that he was fired over the mistake and ordered to take a commercial flight home, before being told that he had actually been reinstated because no one else could continue the journey.A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not mention the incident, instead claiming that the secretary of Homeland Security “makes personnel decisions designed to achieve excellence.”
Lewandowski’s dream is to own a gun and a badge
Another bizarre claim made in the report is that Noem’s senior adviser “indicated to senior ICE officials that he wanted to obtain a law enforcement badge and a federally issued firearm,” even though he had not received the necessary training to obtain those qualifications.The newspaper wrote that as the administration prepared to hire Tom Feeley, a former senior ICE official in New York, as the new director, Levandowski asked him if he would hand him props. Feeley declined and was subsequently passed over for the role.ICE attorney Ken Padilla reportedly denied the same request and was placed on administrative leave and then demoted to a position with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).Lewandowski eventually obtained the gun, but allegedly after signing it with the ICE director’s automatic pen — an ironic detail given Trump’s derision and conspiracy theories about his predecessor, Joe Biden’s use of the device, the Wall Street Journal reported.A Department of Homeland Security spokesman denied the newspaper’s reporting of the incident, saying Levandowski made no effort to obtain the gun or sign documents and said he did not speak with Feeley and that Padilla was placed on leave for other reasons.Customs and Border Protection Director Rodney Scott reportedly engaged in similar retaliatory tactics, with Noem and Lewandowski allegedly trying to force him out by reappointing his chief of staff and forcing his deputy to resign.Scott himself was a Senate appointee and therefore outside the Secretary of State’s jurisdiction.
Trump ‘uncomfortable’ with Noem, Lewandowski relationship
There have long been rumors that the secretary of state and her top advisers, both married, were having extramarital affairs. They have repeatedly denied the accusations, with the secretary of state calling them “disgusting lies.”Still, the Wall Street Journal resumed their relationship, reporting that “the close relationship has made President Trump and his top advisers uncomfortable,” adding that the president rejected the idea of Lewandowski serving as Noem’s chief of staff “because of reports of a romantic relationship between the two — which officials say he has been bringing up.”The newspaper reported that tabloid photos of Lewandowski “showed Lewandowski going back and forth between his apartment and Noem’s apartment across the street last year” before Noem moved into a government-owned beach house on a Washington, D.C., military base for the head of the Coast Guard.A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told the Journal that Noem moved into the house for security reasons, said she paid rent on the property, and advised the newspaper not to “waste its time on salacious, baseless gossip.”
