Trump puts Noem in the doghouse at first Cabinet meeting of 2026

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not speak at a Thursday Cabinet meeting hosted by President Donald Trump amid significant fallout from last weekend’s killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minnesota.

Though Trump has publicly expressed confidence in Noem, telling reporters on Tuesday that she would not step down from her post, he dispatched White House border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis earlier this week to take over command of “Operation Metro Surge” and lead conversations with state and local lawmakers.

And at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, the first of 2026, Noem did not speak. Meanwhile, Minnesota was discussed only once when Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. mentioned the state, alongside California, as a core focus of the administration’s efforts to tackle Medicaid and Medicare fraud.

Last year,