Donald Trump left Christy Nome during a cabinet meeting after being sidelined by the Minneapolis ICE operation

need to know

• President Donald Trump left Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem at a Cabinet meeting on January 29.

• Trump also made the rare move of refusing questions from the press after the meeting

• Caitlan Collins, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, suggested Trump’s actions allowed the administration to avoid addressing recent DHS controversies from Minneapolis and increased scrutiny of Noem’s leadership.

President Donald Trump added more fuel to rumors about Christie Noem’s job security during a cabinet meeting on Thursday, January 29.

Trump’s televised cabinet meetings — where his top advisers update him on his departments’ priorities — have become an opportunity to comment on the administration’s accomplishments and current events, though two notable actions by Trump prevented that from happening Thursday, as many wondered how he would respond to ongoing criticism toward the Department of Homeland Security.

A federal immigration operation in Minneapolis has been the source of major backlash for the Trump administration, including the fatal officer-involved shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Goode and Alex Pretty; Disturbing updates about 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, whose ICE detention went viral on his way home from preschool with his father; and Minnesota Rep. The recent attack on Ilhan Omar when he was denouncing DHS Secretary Noem at a town hall.

While Trump called several members of his cabinet for updates on issues such as housing, the economy, the ongoing situation in Venezuela and more during Thursday’s meeting, CNN chief White House correspondent Caitlan Collins later noted that he left Noem out, preventing him from addressing criticism surrounding the leadership of federal immigration agencies.

Trump also abruptly ended the meeting and, in an extremely rare move for the 47th president, refused to take questions from the assembled members of the White House press corps.

“There’s been a lot of headlines generated around Minneapolis, what’s going on there, especially with the president changing his leadership on the ground there,” Collins said on air immediately after the event. “It didn’t come to the cabinet meeting at all, and we were there for over an hour and a half.”

“Minneapolis wasn’t brought up once, and obviously no questions were brought up to the president because he didn’t raise questions even though he talked about how he believes they’re the most transparent administration ever in a cabinet meeting,” he added.

Noem and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino both came under fire for comments made shortly after Pretty’s death on Jan. 24, in which they labeled the 37-year-old ICU nurse a “domestic terrorist.”

“An individual who brought weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation by federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism,” Noem said, speaking to reporters hours after Pretty was shot and killed. “That’s the fact.”

Video footage soon revealed that Preeti was holding a cell phone, not a gun, and Border Patrol agents disarmed him before shooting him at point-blank range.

There have been calls for Noem’s impeachment from both Republicans and Democrats; However, when asked on January 27 if Noem would resign, Trump told reporters, “No.”

However, he has separated Noem and Bovino from the Minneapolis operation. In a Jan. 26 Truth Social post, Trump announced that he was sending his “border czar,” Tom Homan, to the war-torn city as his new point person.

“I’m sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight,” Trump, 79, wrote. “He’s not involved in that field, but knows and likes a lot of people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.”

the next day, Atlantic reported that Bovino will return to his Border Patrol post in El Centro, Calif., where he is the area’s commander at large.

CBS News also reported that Noem is unlikely to lose his cabinet post entirely on Jan. 27, but is expected to shift his focus from Minneapolis to “securing the southern border and other priorities.”

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On January 27, Axios reported that Noem was mounting a defense amid increased scrutiny, allegedly blaming Trump and his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, for any DHS wrongdoing.

“Whatever I’ve done, I’ve done under the direction of the president and Stephen,” Noem reportedly said, according to a person who relayed the quote to Axios.

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