THE CABINET SHAKEUP THAT WASN’T (FOR NOW…) — When Trump first heard about a story suggesting he was supposedly firing DHS Secretary KRISTI NOEM, his reaction wasn’t what you’d expect if you’ve been reading all the headlines about her lately.
“Firing Kristi? I love Kristi!” Trump exclaimed to one top aide who alerted him to the first of a half-dozen recent stories suggesting the former South Dakota governor is on the outs.
When he heard he was allegedly considering axing Energy Secretary CHRIS WRIGHT, he expressed confusion. Where was that story coming from? The thought, he said, had never crossed his mind.
And a few days ago — as breathless reports about a year-end Cabinet cleanout reached a fever pitch, with everyone from KASH PATEL to PETE HEGSETH apparently on the rocks — the president started privately mocking the whole narrative of a year-end Cabinet cleanout.
“I think I’m gonna start replacing Marco,” he joked in the Oval Office in a recent meeting with top aides and MARCO RUBIO, poking fun at the reports.
There’s been a ton of stories in recent weeks suggesting Cabinet officials are about to get canned. And believe me when I tell you: No one loves a palace intrigue story more than me. But I’ve spoken to several top White House officials this week, and it turns out that much of that rumor mill is overblown. Trump, I’m hearing, has zero plans to fire anyone at the moment. Not this month. Not next.
“Look, I can’t read the minds of the cabinet members, and maybe some of them are tired and want to move on and can’t do this anymore — I don’t know that. But I can speak for the president in saying that he is personally not planning to fire anybody. It’s not something he’s even entertaining right now at all,” a senior White House official told me last night.
That’s not to say there isn’t conflict. Some recent negative stories have sparked the ire of not only top White House aides but POTUS himself. And as one former Trump official close to the inner circle tells me, the West Wing is entering a new period in which some Cabinet secretaries are asserting their independence in ways that could undermine Trump — and that’s become particularly difficult to manage with an election year around the corner.
In fact, top White House aides have recently made clear to secretaries and department chiefs that there will be no tolerance for freelancing and shenanigans, with the midterms looming, I’m told. White House officials have insisted that all policy and communications rollouts — now more than ever — be cleared by the West Wing. (More on this warning to the Cabinet below…)
But there’s a difference between internal conflict — or, in this case, some pretty stern warnings — and showing someone the door, as well-placed sources explain to me.
That hasn’t stopped tongues from wagging — people who I know are regularly talking to the president or his staff are at times even saying entirely contradictory things: Earlier this week, someone insisted to me that HOWARD LUTNICK — whose presence on TV and in the West Wing has been quieter recently — was definitely toast in January over the rocky tariff rollouts. Yet another in-the-know person told me unprompted that long-simmering tensions between the president’s longtime friend and top aides have actually cooled.
Another thing to remember: While Trump’s second term may have a better HR department leader in Chief of Staff SUSIE WILES, this is still the snake-pit that is Trump World — meaning, people leak on their enemies to try to take them down and build their own power. Many White House officials predict that’s what’s happening with many of these stories.
Of course, it’s not unreasonable to ask if change is coming. Administrations often experience turnover at year-end. What’s more, with pressure mounting on the president amid sluggish poll numbers, he may choose at some point to offer up a sacrificial lamb.
But even if he does, the chances of a mass exodus seem slim, most insiders agree — particularly for a president who likens internal firings to giving the media a “scalp.” “Here’s the thing, the president’s not gonna replace four cabinet members at one time,” as one insider told me.
Yesterday, the president confronted the rumors head-on. “I read these same stories that I’m unhappy with this one or that one, and I’m not. I think the Cabinet has done a great job,” Trump said, defending Noem and embattled PETE HEGSETH. Press Secretary KAROLINE LEAVITT echoed that sentiment, telling me in a statement that “President Trump loves every member of his Cabinet and genuinely enjoys working with them.”
But since we all love to gossip, today I thought I’d break down the rumors versus the real talk in the West Wing….
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KRISTI NOEM — A host of journalists have reported that the DHS secretary could be fired in January, and that deputy chief of staff and immigration hawk STEPHEN MILLER is leading the charge. The frustration, the stories go, is that Noem is bungling Trump’s deportation plan. MS NOW has even suggested former Virginia Gov. GLENN YOUNGKIN has been floated as a possible replacement, while Politico reported that former Rep. JASON CHAFFETZ is being considered.
What’s true: While White House insiders say Noem isn’t on the chopping block, there are absolutely questions internally about whether her potential 2028 ambitions might at some point become a challenge. The president, I hear, has started asking about the flurry of DHS television ads she stars in, which highlight the administration’s immigration accomplishments. While POTUS actually pushed for those spots touting his agenda, he’s now asking how much has been spent on ads and what people think of Noem in general.
The most sensitive issue in the West Wing: Her continued work with COREY LEWANDOWSKI, the former Trump campaign hand reviled by many current staff. “If Kristi got rid of Corey, she’d be better — everybody wants her to get rid of Corey,” one insider tells me.
But White House officials say the president still likes her — and that’s really all that matters. “Kristi does what she’s told and puts on a front and goes on liberal TV outlets and defends the president — and she’s pretty — and that’s what he cares about,” the insider mentioned above told me.
The speculation in the West Wing is that many of these negative stories are being peddled by allies of White House Border Czar TOM HOMAN, who has clashed with Noem on style.
As for the names being “floated” to replace her? One WH official speculated that perhaps some ambitious folks are floating themselves. (Ouch.)
KASH PATEL — Perhaps more than any other senior advisor, FBI Director KASH PATEL has found himself at the center of negative press stories. He’s been accused of jeopardizing investigations by tweeting news about them prematurely, and abusing bureau resources by detailing a SWAT team security to protect his girlfriend and using a government plane to fly to see her.
Even Miranda Devine of the New York Post — whom the president reads — has written extensively about agents railing about Patel’s credentials and management, citing a six-month review stating that he was “in over his head” and too “obsessed” with social media.
What’s real: Yes, there are frustrations among White House staff, Attorney General PAM BONDI, and even the president, with the drumroll of embarrassing Patel headlines. “The president doesn’t like it,” one person close to the inner circle said, disclosing that Trump has complained about them to others.
But overall, there’s been steady pushback that he’s going anywhere, including blistering remarks from KAROLINE LEAVITT at the podium when MS Now reported just before Thanksgiving that Trump may replace him with FBI official ANDREW BAILEY.
“I read the headline to the President, and he laughed,” Leavitt told reporters, noting that the president was in the Oval with Patel when the news dropped. “He said: ‘What? That’s totally false.”
Agree with them or not, Patel’s allies in the admin argue that there are logistical reasons for him having to take a government jet to see his girlfriend — and that there are good reasons she has security given threats. What’s more, the president has given him credit for identifying the elusive Jan. 6 pipe-bomber and ensuring the capture of CHARLIE KIRK’s murderer.
Most importantly: Trump aides argue that Patel is hyper-loyal and “committed to the cause,” and the president knows (and loves) that. “I don’t foresee any risk to Kash in the immediate future,” one insider told me.
A FEW OTHER BITS I GATHERED THIS WEEK ON THE POSITION OF CABINET OFFICIALS…
?SEAN DUFFY — While there have been a few headlines about the fate of the Transportation Secretary, there have actually been several clashes between him and the West Wing that are worth noting.
A few weeks ago, Axios’ Marc Caputo had a good Friday night scoop about White House concerns that Duffy’s operation was leaking bad stories on JARED ISAACMAN to block his nomination to become NASA chief. Wiles even called Duffy and told him politely to “knock it off,” per Caputo. (A Duffy official denied that he was smearing Isaacman.)
The tension hasn’t stopped there. Duffy’s son-in-law, MICHAEL ALFONSO, has filed to run in Duffy’s old House seat. And while Duffy has expressed an interest in supporting Alfonso’s bid, the president hasn’t gotten involved in the race — and that’s created a sticky situation, with some chafing at the optics.
Here’s one White House ally: “It presents more of a complication when you do that while being part of an administration. I don’t think that you can be a cabinet secretary and be a part of any campaign without it being explicitly attached … if you’re going to a fundraiser or you’re supporting any of the efforts, it explicitly suggests a sign off out of the administration.”
Still, I’m told Duffy’s place is likely secured for now — not only because the president likes him but because he positively adores Duffy’s wife, “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY.
?CHRIS WRIGHT — The president praised his energy secretary during his campaign rally in Pennsylvania earlier this week. But that’s not to say there haven’t been issues behind the scenes. CNN reported earlier this winter that Wright has irked the West Wing by “slow-walking some initiatives that Trump promised during his campaign and that he has contributed to high turnover in some of the agency’s top jobs.”
While Trump and White House aides denied the CNN report suggesting Wright’s job was in jeopardy, there has been tension over personnel, particularly with the recent apparent sidelining of WELLS GRIFFITH, an undersecretary with close ties to Trump.
“Here you have a great Trump guy who worked on the Trump campaign in 2016 … who gets through SERGIO [GOR’s] gauntlet, who gets Senate confirmed and goes to the Department of Energy, and Chris says, ‘Oh, I want someone different.’” complained one Trump ally close to the inner circle.
?DAN BONGINO — Now this is one top Trump FBI official that the inner circle says could be out any day — though he’s obviously not Cabinet-level. Bongino infuriated the White House over how he handled the Espstin saga this summer, with senior staff complaining that he put his personal reputation with MAGA World ahead of the team’s best interests.
Bongino, who had fueled Epstein conspiracy theories before he joined the FBI as a deputy, clashed with Bondi over how to handle the files, even refusing to show up to work for a time.
Since then, it’s been sour grapes where he’s concerned in the West Wing. The expectation is that he’ll leave eventually; one person told me he’s told others he won’t be in the job much longer.
A FINAL THOUGHT — WILL THIS LAST? — A senior administration official recently joked to me that “we are the Hotel California — nobody ever leaves.” But while no one is in the firing line at the moment, that doesn’t mean it will stay that way forever.
The White House is also entering a period of enormous pressure ahead of the midterms, with GOP lawmakers bickering, tough polling, and everyone looking to point fingers. That means no room for errors next year.
Here’s how one person very close to the inner circle put it to me this week:
“Some secretaries are posturing and looking towards their own futures and developing a sense of independence that conflicts with the White House. And so, entering into the second year, I think you’re gonna see the White House trying to navigate those feelings of independence with the reality of an administration that has to not just deliver wins, but communicate those wins in a way that results in congressional majorities.
“[Senior staffs’] role is to try to navigate the president and put him in a position to succeed. But when you’re tamping down or having to manage internally, it provides an additional point of contention and complication.”
“The West Wing and the political people understand it intimately, and they have to navigate now these various departments and agencies that think that they have autonomy and don’t appreciate or have forgotten that really they’re just downstream of a White House and they’re there to play ball and be supportive.”
