Kristi Noem is out of a job.
Donald Trump on Thursday announced he was replacing his embattled homeland security secretary, capping weeks of bipartisan complaints about her leadership after immigration agents killed two US citizens and reports emerged that she was involved in a personal relationship with a top deputy.
The president made it public in a post on Truth Social, in which he said Markwayne Mullin, a Republican Oklahoma senator, would take over from Noem starting on 31 March.
But it appears Noem has another government job lined up. Trump said she would become special envoy for “the Shield of the Americas”, a security initiative Trump said he planned to announce over the weekend.
Democrats have cheered Noem’s departure, with Hakeem Jeffries, the US House minority leader, saying at a press conference: “Good riddance. She was a disaster.”
But Jeffries said it would not change Democrats’ stance towards funding the homeland security department, which has been partly shut down since mid-February.
Noem’s firing was the first major personnel shakeup of Trump’s second term – a notable shift from the president’s first term, during which the White House nearly had to install a revolving door to keep up with the pace of cabinet turnover.
Trump ousts DHS secretary Kristi Noem
In a statement on Twitter/X, Noem thanked Trump for appointing her to the new role, while promoting her record leading the department. News of the firing broke just before she spoke to a group of police officials in Nashville, but Noem did not bring the subject up on stage.
Markwayne Mullin, Maga ‘warrior’ and ICE defender, to replace Kristi Noem
Donald Trump is nominating Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin to lead the Department of Homeland Security, handing control of the administration’s sweeping immigration and deportation agenda to one of Washington’s most hardline voices and combative allies on the issue.
US House rejects war powers resolution to end Trump’s hostilities with Iran
The US House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a Democratic-backed measure to halt hostilities with Iran, as Republicans cleared the way for Donald Trump to continue the conflict that has drawn in countries across the Middle East, but criticized as having unclear goals.
Stock market falls resume as US-Israel war with Iran drives up oil and gas prices
A market sell-off resumed on both sides of the Atlantic on Thursday as fears mounted that there would be no quick resolution to the conflict in the Middle East.
US grants waiver to allow India to buy Russian oil amid Iran war
The US treasury issued a 30-day waiver on Thursday allowing India to buy Russian oil currently stuck at sea.
“To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the treasury department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil,” treasury secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement posted to social media.
Trump administration failing to curb measles spread, say experts
Experts say that the Trump administration has failed to take obvious steps to contain the spread of measles, which is continuing to accelerate in the United States as the number of cases has climbed past 1,000.
The administration has revealed a relaxed attitude toward the highly contagious virus both in terms of messaging and funding allocation, experts said.
New York and other US states sue Trump over ‘illegal and reckless’ tariffs
A coalition of Democratic attorneys general and governors across 24 US states are suing Donald Trump to block his latest round of tariffs. The White House is planning to enact a new 15% tariff on all imports after the supreme court declared Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs illegal.
Senators demand investigation after ninth American killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers in West Bank
More than 30 US senators have signed a letter demanding that the Trump administration open an independent investigation into the February killing of a 19-year-old American in the occupied West Bank, the ninth US citizen killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since 2022.
What else happened today:
As hundreds of civilians and some US service members have been killed in the aftermath of the 28 February strike against Iran by the United States and Israel, American readers were largely disapproving of the military action, with some acknowledging that the Iranian regime needed to be toppled.
A man being held at a US immigration detention facility in Arizona died this week after reporting severe tooth pain and not receiving “timely medical attention”, according to a local official.
Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has increasingly become his administration’s “political wing”, with criminal investigations of economic and political foes and an FBI raid of a Georgia election office seeking evidence for Trump’s debunked claim that his 2020 election loss was rigged, say ex-prosecutors.
Donald Trump boasted about severing the ties between the US military and Anthropic the same day multiple reports said that negotiations between the Department of Defense and the AI startup had resumed.
It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.
Catching up? Here’s what happened Wednesday 4 March.
