GOP senator reveals why Kristi Noem was ‘dead as fried chicken’ after disastrous congressional hearing
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Friday that it didn’t take long for him to realize Kristi Noem was “dead as fried chicken” after questioning her on Capitol Hill.
Kennedy recounted to Fox News host Will Cain that just hours after a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday—where he pressed Noem over a $220 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign she approved as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security—he received a call from a furious President Trump.
“He was mad as a mamma wasp,” the Louisiana Republican said of Trump’s reaction. During the hearing, Noem claimed the president had “tasked” her with “getting the message out to the country and to other countries” through costly commercials urging illegal immigrants to leave the U.S. Kennedy said he was “stunned” when Noem testified that the president “approved every single bit” of the campaign.
After watching the hearing, President Trump called Kennedy to clarify.
“He said, ‘Kennedy, I hope you understand that I had nothing to do with this.’ I said, ‘I do believe you, Mr. President,’” Kennedy recalled. “He was not happy. It was clear to me after that conversation that the secretary’s time at the department was limited.”
To be blunt, Kennedy said, Noem was “dead as fried chicken.” President Trump later confirmed via a Truth Social post Thursday that Noem was leaving DHS and would be replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).
Noem will move to a special envoy role for the “The Shield of the Americas” coalition, the president said. Hours before announcing her departure, Trump told Reuters that he “never knew anything about” the ad campaign.
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