Report: Trump Angry After Noem Hearings, Mullin Considered as DHS Chief

President Donald Trump is reportedly privately furious with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after she suggested during Senate testimony that he approved a $220 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign.

And National Review reported in an exclusive on Thursday, Trump is reportedly considering Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to replace her, according to a person said to be familiar with the president's thinking.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Noem indicated under oath that Trump had been aware of the campaign and approved it for release before DHS greenlit the multimillion-dollar contract, the source, who was not identified, told National Review, the outlet reported on Thursday.

The campaign featured Noem prominently.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressed Noem during the hearing, asking whether Trump approved the spending, and Noem said that "we went through the legal processes."

"Did the president know you were [going to] do this?" Kennedy asked.

Noem again answered in the affirmative.

Kennedy said he found the claim difficult to believe.

"I'm not saying you're not telling the truth. It's just hard for me to believe, knowing the president, as I do, that you said, 'Mr. President, here's some ads I've cut, and I'm going to spend $220 million running them,' that he would have agreed to that," Kennedy said.

He added that he did not think Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought "would have agreed to that."

Trump on Thursday told Reuters that he didn't sign off on the ad campaign featuring Noem, and said that he "never knew anything about it."

Punchbowl News reports that Trump called several GOP senators after Noem's testimony before Senate and House Judiciary Committee hearings this week to ask whether he should fire the secretary.

Noem faced heated questions from Democrat lawmakers, but some more pointed exchanges took place in the Senate hearing, when Republicans argued with her about her actions and the administration's aggressive immigration enforcement policies.

National Review reports that Trump has floated Mullin as her successor, but it is not clear if he will move to replace her.

Since he took office for a second term last year, Trump has avoided major Cabinet changes, except for shifting former national security adviser Mike Waltz to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

In early February, he said he had no plans to remove Noem following controversy surrounding federal officer-involved fatal shootings in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Mullin, when asked Wednesday at the Capitol whether he had spoken with Trump about the hearing or a possible role at DHS, said he had not.

"Listen I haven't talked to the President all week, so I couldn't even help you with that answer," he told a CBS News reporter.

And when he was asked if he was open to serving in the Cabinet, the senator responded: "I'm actually absolutely not dealing with hypotheticals."

Newsmax has reached out to the White House and Mullin's office for comment.

During the hearings this week, members of Congress pressed Noem about the contract approval process and about Corey Lewandowski, Trump's 2016 campaign manager and a close ally of the secretary who now works as her top aide at DHS as a special government employee.

Noem told lawmakers Lewandowski does not play a role in approving contracts, though some DHS officials privately dispute that claim.

Meanwhile, a DHS spokesperson defended the advertising campaign, saying it had produced significant results.

"The domestic ad campaign has been the most successful ad campaign in U.S. history," the spokesperson said. "The results speak for themselves: 2.2 million illegal aliens self-deported."

The spokesperson said the campaign ultimately saved taxpayers money.

"On average, an arrest and removal by ICE cost U.S. taxpayers $18,000. Even with the costs of advertising, the CBP $2,600 exit bonus, self-deportations are 70% cheaper than a forced ICE removal. This ad campaign saved the U.S. taxpayers over $39 billion."