by Ben Whedon
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin this week confirmed that he was reviewing several contracts that Kristi Noem pursued amid scrutiny over their links to her political allies.
Mullin replaced Noem after Trump fired her over a disastrous appearance before a congressional committee that saw her claim Trump signed off on a controversial ad campaign featuring herself. That assertion reportedly motivated Trump to remove her after months of controversy. She also faced scrutiny over allegations that she awarded contracts to people linked to her subordinates and political allies.
Trump appointed Noem to the Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas. She said she “looked forward” to working with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio ” to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation and killed our children and grandchildren.”
“The Western Hemisphere is absolutely critical for U.S. security. In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise,” Noem said.
Mullin told Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., that “[w]e are looking at the contracts that weren’t already signed, and we did go through and cancel most of those,” according to The Hill.
“On the contracts, we stopped the contracts moving forward on some of the stuff that wasn’t already signed,” he added. “Some of the contracts were already there, they’re there unless the IG takes a look at them and says that they were falsely signed under false circumstances, I can’t cancel unless it’s under penalty.”
The DHS Inspector General is also separately reviewing the contracts, but has not published any findings of wrongdoing by Noem as of press time.
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Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
