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President Donald Trump skips Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at Cabinet meeting on January 29
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Trump also rarely asked questions from the media after the meeting.
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CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins said Trump’s actions allowed the administration to avoid addressing the recent DHS controversy from Minneapolis and intense scrutiny of Noem’s leadership
President Donald Trump further fueled rumors about Kristi Noem’s job security during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, January 29.
Trump’s televised Cabinet meetings — in which his top advisers take turns briefing him on their departments’ priorities — have become opportunities to tout the administration’s accomplishments and comment on current events, yet two noteworthy Trump actions prevented that from happening Thursday, as many wondered how he would acknowledge ongoing criticism of the Department of Homeland Security and its controversies in Minnesota.
Federal immigration actions in Minneapolis have drawn backlash from the Trump administration, including the police shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti; the heart-wrenching latest news about Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old boy who was detained by ICE as he came home from kindergarten with his father, which went viral; and the recent attack on Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar as she denounced Homeland Security Secretary Noem at a town hall.
While Trump called on many members of his Cabinet to provide updates during Thursday’s meeting on housing, the economy, the current situation in Venezuela and more, CNN chief White House correspondent Caitlan Collins was quick to point out that he was skipping Noem to prevent her from responding to criticism surrounding her leadership of federal immigration agencies.
Trump also abruptly ended the meeting and refused to take questions from members of the White House press corps, an extremely rare move for the 47th president.
“What’s going on around Minneapolis, especially with the president changing leadership there, has been making a lot of headlines,” Collins said on the air immediately after the event. “It was not brought up at all in this Cabinet meeting, and we were there for an hour and a half.”
She added: “Minneapolis was not mentioned once and apparently no questions were asked of the president as he did not answer questions despite speaking at a Cabinet meeting about how he believed they were the most transparent government ever.”
Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Noem and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino have both been criticized for comments made shortly after Pretty’s death on January 24, in which they called the 37-year-old ICU nurse a “domestic terrorist.”
“This man who came with weapons and ammunition to stop federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism,” Noem told reporters hours after Pretty was shot. “That’s what it is.”
Video footage soon showed that Pretty was holding a cell phone, not a gun, and that Border Patrol agents disarmed him before shooting him at point-blank range.
Both Republicans and Democrats have called for Noem’s impeachment. However, when asked on January 27 whether Noem would resign, Trump simply replied to reporters: “No.”
However, he has withdrawn Noem and Bovino from the Minneapolis operation. Trump announced in a Jan. 26 Truth Society post that he would send his “border czar,” Tom Homan, to be his new chief in the troubled city.
“Tonight I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota,” Trump, 79, wrote. “He wasn’t involved in that area but knew and liked a lot of the people there. Tom was tough but fair and would report directly to me.”
the next day, atlantic Bovino will reportedly return to his Border Patrol post in El Centro, California, where he serves as the area’s Operation Freedom commander.
CBS News also reported on January 27 that Noem was unlikely to lose her Cabinet position outright, but was expected to shift her focus away from Minneapolis to “securing the southern border and other priorities.”
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On January 27, Axios reported that Noem defended herself amid growing scrutiny and blamed any missteps at the Department of Homeland Security on Trump and his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller.
“Everything I do is under the guidance of the president and Steph,” Noem said, according to a person who forwarded the quote to Axios.
Read the original article on People
