00:00President Trump has fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
00:03It's the first high-profile dismissal of his second term,
00:06following weeks of immigration enforcement chaos.
00:10He named Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullen as his pick to succeed her.
00:14The move came one day after Noem said this on Capitol Hill.
00:18The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million
00:24running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently.
00:29Yes, sir, we went through the legal processes.
00:31Did it correct?
00:32Did the president know you were going to do this?
00:34Yes.
00:35He did?
00:35Yes.
00:36Well, I guess not.
00:38The president told Reuters that he never knew anything about the ads,
00:42and two sources close to the White House said Trump was furious when Noem testified that he did.
00:47But that wasn't the only reason she was shown the door.
00:50A source told The Post exclusively, quote,
00:52the question about the affair at the hearing was actually the final straw.
00:57It was effing brutal.
00:59Now, that, of course, is a reference to this.
01:02Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?
01:07Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today.
01:13Reclaiming my time.
01:14And ma'am, one thing that I would tell you is that he is a special government employee.
01:18You should be wanting to answer that question.
01:20As garbage?
01:20Because it is not about your sex life.
01:22It is offensive that you have brought that up.
01:25Trump took a more, let's call it, congenial tone on Truth Social,
01:29lauding Noem for her accomplishments, quote, especially on the border,
01:33and said that she would be named Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas,
01:37a new security initiative focused on the Western Hemisphere that he will officially announce tomorrow.
01:42Noem, for her part, expressed gratitude in an ex-post, writing in part, quote,
01:47quote, thank you, President Trump, for appointing me as the Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.
01:52Then she tagged Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and said, quote,
01:58I look forward to working with them closely to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation
02:03and killed our children and grandchildren.
02:05So what is the Shield of the Americas?
02:08Here's the Post's Chief Washington Correspondent Stephen Nelson.
02:12The Shield of the Americas, which Kristi Noem will now lead,
02:16is going to be launched on Saturday in Miami with President Trump in attendance.
02:21Leaders from many Western Hemisphere countries are coming together to talk about cooperation
02:26on fighting international criminal organizations.
02:29But you may also be asking yourself now, who is Mark Wayne Mullen,
02:33the man poised to run Homeland Security and the many, many vital agencies under its umbrella?
02:38I'll let Stephen fill us in on that one, too.
02:40Mark Wayne Mullen, President Trump's nominee to be the new Homeland Security Secretary,
02:44is a Oklahoma Republican senator.
02:47He is a tough-talking conservative supporter of President Trump.
02:52Mullen is presumably going to be confirmed by his Senate colleagues and take over the department
02:57later this month.
02:59Mullen has had some notable interactions that have caught media attention.
03:04He nearly got in a fight with the head of the Teamsters Union during a Senate hearing,
03:09and he's called Senator Rand Paul, who will lead the committee that is going to confirm him,
03:15a freaking snake.
03:16So he's a colorful character, staunch conservative.
03:20He's currently the only Native American serving in the Senate.
03:24He is a father of six.
03:27Two of his children are adopted.
03:28And Mullen is expected to continue President Trump's efforts at mass deportation,
03:36continue his efforts at border security, and continue his efforts to fight crime.
03:42Cops outside of Washington, D.C. say that they've repeatedly warned prosecutors that serial
03:47criminal migrant Abdul Jalloh was a danger to society and needed to be locked up.
03:52And they say they did it before Jalloh allegedly hacked 41-year-old mother Stephanie Minter to
03:58death last month.
03:59One email from a police major to the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney says, referring
04:04to Jalloh, quote,
04:05It is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound or worse again.
04:11My role of keeping the public safe prompts me to follow up on his status.
04:15Now, that email from last November followed one from August that detailed Jalloh's involvement
04:20with cops over 100 times, including, quote,
04:24multiple stabbing incidents with victims identifying him as the offender.
04:28Now, I feel like that bears repeating 100 times.
04:32Fairfax County claims it's not a sanctuary jurisdiction, but top Republicans on the House
04:36Judiciary Committee slammed authorities for not working with ICE on the arrest of illegal
04:41migrants as recently as January.
04:43And Jalloh was flagged to the Department of Homeland Security way back in 2020.
04:48President Trump offered an update on Operation Epic Fury, ticking off the many victories
04:53so far in the campaign, and also suggesting someone in Iran wants to make a deal to end
04:59the fighting.
04:59They're calling, they're saying, how do we make a deal?
05:01I said, you're being a little bit late and we want to fight now more than they do.
05:07So when it comes to the person he wants to eventually deal with, President Trump insists
05:11he should be involved in choosing the next leader of Iran.
05:14Speaking to Axios on Thursday, the president said, quote,
05:17They are wasting their time.
05:19Kemeni's son is a lightweight.
05:20I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela.
05:24He went on to say that the former Ayatollah's son, Mojtaba Kemeni, who is rumored to be
05:29the next supreme leader, is unacceptable because he won't bring harmony and peace to the country.
05:34But experts say the group pushing for the younger Kemeni, hardliners that survived the
05:40joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, might not want to be seen as bending to the will of the U.S.
05:45and its allies.
05:46Despite reports earlier this week that he'd already been selected as the next supreme leader,
05:51it seems that a final decision won't actually come until next week.
05:56For more on these stories and everything else you could possibly want to know, check out
06:01the New York Post in print or online.
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06:07and on YouTube.
06:07I promise you'll be glad you did.
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