Karoline Leavitt Offers Baffling Excuse for Benching ICE Barbie
The White House insisted that Kristi Noem still had Donald Trump’s backing despite sending Tom Homan to Minneapolis.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Donald Trump has not lost confidence in Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem despite sending border czar Tom Homan to take charge in Minneapolis.
Speaking from the White House podium on Monday, Leavitt suggested that Homan was being sent to deal with the escalating situation because Noem was too busy.
“Secretary Noem still has the utmost confidence and trust of the president of the United States, and she is continuing to oversee the entire Department of Homeland Security and all of the immigration enforcement that’s taking place across the entire country,” Leavitt said.
She then added that Noem is also in charge of FEMA as the U.S. deals with a massive winter storm that swept through over the weekend.

The White House insisted President Donald Trump still is confident in DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, but Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also rushed to distance Trump from Noem accusing Minnesota ICE shooting victim Alex Pretti of domestic terrorism.
Al Drago/Getty Images
“Border czar Homan is in a unique position to drop everything and go to Minnesota to continue having these productive conversations with state and local officials,” Leavitt said.
Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Monday that Homan was heading to Minneapolis.
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“He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” Trump wrote.
There have been multiple reports of Homan and Noem bitterly feuding in the past.
While the White House insisted that Trump has not lost confidence in Noem, Leavitt desperately tried to distance the president from his DHS secretary’s comments over the weekend.

The White House distanced the president from Sec. Noem accusing 37-year-old Alex Pretti of domestic terrorism after he was shot multiple times and killed by ICE on Saturday.
Department of Veterans Affairs
Noem accused Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot and killed by federal agents on Saturday, of domestic terrorism.
But videos showed Pretti had merely been recording on his phone and had attempted to help up a woman who had been shoved to the ground by armed agents before he was tackled and shot multiple times in the middle of the street.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was very busy as the reason why border czar Tom Homan was being sent to Minnesota on Monday while insisting the president had not lost confidence in Noem.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Leavitt said on Monday that Trump has not characterized Pretti as a domestic terrorist and wants the investigation to play out.
The White House press secretary described Homan’s role in heading to Minnesota as the “point person” working with state and local authorities to “achieve the level of cooperation to subdue the chaos in the streets of Minneapolis.”

Trump posted on Truth Social that he had spoken to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz after announcing earlier on Monday that he would be sending Tom Homan to Minneapolis after the ICE killing of Alexi Pretti.
Truth Social
In a post on Monday, Trump revealed that he had spoken with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. He described it as a “good call” and wrote “we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength.”
The president said he told Walz that Homan would call him, and that the governor was happy to have the border czar heading to his state.
In his own readout of their conversation, Walz described it as productive. He indicated that the president agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in the state and to ensure Minnesota officials can conduct an independent investigation.
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