Trump ‘furious’ after Kristi Noem claims he approved $220M ad campaign for DHS: report

What started as a routine Senate hearing quickly turned into a political conundrum for the White House. President Donald Trump reportedly furious after closed-door meeting with Homeland Security secretaries Kristi Noem Under oath, it was suggested he had signed up for a massive $220 million advertising campaign in which her face was prominently displayed. According to National Review, Trump is not thrilled about being thrust into the spotlight for an expensive publicity campaign.“The president gave you early approval to spend $220 million on a nationwide television ad featuring you?” Republican Sen. John Kennedy asked Noem during Tuesday’s hearing.“Yes, sir, we have gone through the legal process—” Noem said.“Did the president know you were going to do this?” Kennedy interjected.Norm answered in the affirmative again many times. “I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth. It’s just hard for me to believe, because I know the president, that you said, ‘President, here are some ads that I cut out and I’m going to spend $220 million to run them,’ and he would agree to that,” Kennedy said. He added, “I don’t think Russ Voight of the Office of Management and Budget” would agree with that.That frustration prompted the president to privately express his willingness to succeed her, National Review reported. One name starting to emerge this week as a potential replacement for him is Oklahoma’s junior U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin.The White House did not respond to National Review’s inquiries late Wednesday. Punchbowl News reported Thursday morning that Trump is asking congressional Republicans whether Noem should be fired.It’s unclear whether Trump, known for publicly floating personnel changes in private conversations with allies, will proceed with his ouster. In addition to demoting former national security adviser Michael Walz to U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Trump has so far resisted any high-profile Cabinet reshuffles in his second term, insisting in early February that he had no plans to remove Noem from office after her handling of a deadly shooting in Minneapolis involving federal officers earlier this year.“I haven’t spoken to the president,” Mullin said during a brief interview in a U.S. Capitol hallway Wednesday if he heard the president was frustrated by Noem’s Senate Judiciary testimony and if he knew he was being considered as a potential successor.The Oklahoma Republican insisted he had not spoken to the White House at all this week. “I haven’t talked to him about the hearing at all, I can’t help you, I’m sorry,” he added before walking onto the Senate floor to vote.For Noem and the department she oversees, the secretary of state’s testimony before Congress is closely watched. The Department of Homeland Security is in a partial shutdown, with congressional Democrats refusing to fund the department over concerns about the administration’s immigration enforcement strategy.The administration sent border czar Tom Homan to negotiate with local Democratic officials to try to ease tensions surrounding immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota. After gaining local cooperation, Homan was able to withdraw federal immigration officials from the state.Noem’s political vulnerabilities came into focus this week, as Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees raised pointed questions about how the agency monitors contract allocations, officer training, FEMA reimbursements, special government employees and more.Noem faced a series of questions about Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski at two hearings this week. Lewandowski is a close ally of Noem and served as a special government employee as her top aide at the Department of Homeland Security. She denied that Levandowski played a role in approving the contract, a claim that DHS officials privately refuted.After news reports suggested Noem and Lewandowski were romantically involved, multiple House Democrats asked Noem directly during a House Judiciary hearing on Wednesday whether she had ever had sex with him, an allegation she called “complete garbage.”In hearings this week, lawmakers pressed Noem on the contract approval process for the $220 million advertising campaign. The $77 million contract was awarded to People Who Think LLC, owned by Jay Connaughton, who previously worked with Lewandowski on Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s gubernatorial campaign, ProPublica reported. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., questioned Noem about a $143 million no-bid contract awarded to Safe America Media, an entity that was formed just days before the contract was awarded. The group then subcontracted a small portion of the $143 million to a strategy firm owned by Ben Yoho, the husband of former Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.“Strategic Group has never had a contract with the Department of Homeland Security,” the political firm wrote in a statement posted on social media after the hearing. “We entered into a subcontract with Safe America for limited production services. Safe America was paid a total of $226,137.17 to shoot five films, produce 45 video commercials and produce six radio commercials. If you want to question our integrity, show us actual evidence – we did.“Asked to comment for this story, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson reiterated that the “relevant, highly targeted international advertising campaign” was “running across eight countries” and “reached more than 46 million people” and played an important role in helping secure the southern border.“The domestic advertising campaign was the most successful in American history. The results speak for themselves: 2.2 million illegal immigrants have been self-deported. ICE arrests and deportations cost American taxpayers an average of $18,000. Even accounting for advertising costs (CBP’s $2,600 exit bonus), self-deportations are 70 percent cheaper than ICE-enforced deportations. The advertising campaign saved U.S. taxpayers more than $39 billion. “Among Noem’s critics during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday was retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who blasted the Homeland Security secretary’s management of the agency.“Why am I disappointed in Secretary Noem? Because we are not going after enough of the people who are causing this damage at the expense of the number of people Stephen Miller wants out of the White House,” he shouted at one point during the hearing. “We just want quantity. We want 1,000 a day, 6,000 a day, 9,000 a day, because quantities matter, right? No, they don’t. Quality matters, not quantity, quality.”“What we are seeing is a disaster under your leadership,” he added.