Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is failing to meet White House expectations four months into his tenure, facing criticism for making major policy decisions without explicit presidential approval. The breaking point came when Mullin unilaterally ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents nationwide to halt vehicle stops following fatal shootings in Texas and Maine, a decision announced without White House consultation, reported NBC NEWS. President Donald Trump reversed the policy within 24 hours, publicly contradicting his own Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, secretary. Administration insiders told NBC News, "The decision to pause vehicle stops was '100%' a bad move and that it was done without White House sign-off." The incident underscores Trump's expectation that cabinet secretaries must seek presidential sign-off on major policy shifts. Mullin has also faced scrutiny for inaccurately invoking immigration law during a CNN interview, reported NBC News. Questions about his fitness for the role are mounting, particularly concerns over his choice of Lance Schroyer as ICE director, whom DHS insiders describe as having "extremely limited" immigration law knowledge.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
It’s only been four months, but it looks like Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is already on the White House’s bad side.The rift is a result of some early missteps and concerns about Mullin’s personnel choices, according to a senior Trump administration official and a senior Department of Homeland Security official who spoke with NBC News Thursday. The White House wasn’t happy with Mullin’s decision to temporarily restrict Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle stops after two deadly shootings by immigration officers in Texas and Maine. Just one day after Mullin announced the change, and yet another person was killed during a chaotic ICE incident, Trump ordered the agency to resume traffic stops.An administration official told NBC News that Mullin’s decision was “100 percent” a bad move.Mullin reportedly never received the White House’s blessing before announcing the sudden policy change—leaving President Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan in the dark. Trump was reportedly furious, believing that it signaled the administration was softening on immigration enforcement. Another source of tension between Mullin and the White House is the secretary’s decision to nominate Lance Schroyer, one of his allies, to run ICE. The decision had “a lot of people talking,” as Schroyer has no direct experience with federal law or immigration enforcement, a DHS official told NBC News. In addition to Schroyer’s lackluster résumé, he’s also been accused of failing to pay for child support.In any case, several officials “aren’t thrilled with him,” one Trump administration official told NBC News. Rising tensions with the freshly appointed DHS secretary come as a new report suggests that Trump’s second administration has even higher turnover among Senate-confirmed officials than his first.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing from the Brady Room. The anticipated start time is 11:00am ET with livestream links below. . . Posted in media bias, President Trump, Press Secretary - Trump
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Arizona state Rep. Alexander Kolodin, an election attorney, is projected to defeat former state GOP chair Gina Swoboda in the Republican primary to take on Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) in November, according to Decision Desk HQ. Kolodin is best known for his efforts to contest the 2020 election results, with the State Bar of…
Iran launched new attacks on U.S. allies in the region today even as Secretary Hegseth made his case to a Senate committee for more funding. The hearing turned contentious with a verbal dispute over leadership. NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez reports.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to field questions on the Pentagon's multi-billion-dollar budget request to fund the military and replenish military supplies expended in the Iran war. Not even one minute into Hegseth's opening statement before the committee, multiple interruptions from protesters were staged.
The post Several Protesters Arrested After Interrupting War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Senate Testimony Multiple Times (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
President Donald Trump has put the United States in a box with his approach to the war against Iran, one that he has repeatedly struggled to bring to a conclusion, according to a former Secretary of the Air Force.“As one of your earlier guests said, that's a war crime,” Secretary Frank Kendall, who served under President Joe Biden, told CNN on Monday. Kendall was referring to Trump’s threat to go after civilian infrastructure, and Kendall noted that in addition to the moral problems with such an approach, it also would likely not be effective in getting Iran to capitulate.“But that doesn't seem to have constrained this president very much,” Kendall explained. “And so he can do that and inflict greater pain on Iran. I think it's unknown how much they're willing to accept to make their point that they want to control the Straits of Hormuz.”After being asked whether Trump’s approach is driving a wedge between America and its allies among the Gulf states, Kendall confirmed that this is indeed the case.“I think the intent is to extract a price from other countries in the region and discourage them from supporting the United States,” Kendall said. “There's also some indication that the war will widen — that the Houthis will now try to close the Red Sea, basically to Saudi Arabia, and prevent their shipments out by that alternative route. So we don't see a good outcome anywhere in sight at this point.”He added that Iran is also overplaying its hand.“They can't get much more out of President Trump than he's already willing to concede, and they should recognize that and cut a deal with him,” Kendall said. “But that doesn't seem to be the path they're on. And Trump is left with very few options but to escalate and try to convince them that it's time to do a deal. So that's where we are.”He noted that Iran’s behavior is in general “impossible to predict.”“The Iranians have their own way of looking at the situation,” Kendall said. “I can't really get inside their heads. It's not the transactional approach that our president brings to the table. They've gone way beyond that. And I think the big surprise for him has been their resilience and willingness to accept punishment, and their continuing attempts to demonstrate that they can control the Straits, and to not give us the kind of limitations on their nuclear program that we'd like to have.”He added, “The president, on the other hand, can't go into a situation that's a clearer loss than the one he had before he started this war. So we're in a box — they're both in a box. Hopefully the Iranians will come to the point of view that they've accomplished what they can and cut a deal. That's what we need to see happen.”In addition to the toll taken on Iran, Trump’s war has also caused gas prices to go up to much higher levels than they were during the Biden administration.“Even if hostilities do not restart, the price of oil will not return to pre-Trump levels because there’s a new risk premium that they could restart at any time, increasing tanker insurance costs for example, and because oil infrastructure has been degraded, reducing supply for some time,” Dr. Robert Shapiro, who served as a top economic adviser to President Bill Clinton, explained to AlterNet in April. “An Iran-controlled toll to use the Strait will produce big bucks for Iran, but its impact on world prices for oil, natural gas, helium, etc. should be minimal. Another source of economic friction will be the now-intense uncertainty about what the Trump administration will do next—in the Mideast and in scores of policies at home; and uncertainty dampens investment.”He added, “As it is, the economy was weakening before this crisis began, and these and other factors will exacerbate those downward pressures. A resolution over the next two weeks will not stop the deterioration in economic conditions.”By contrast White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told AlterNet at the time that “the United States’ energy dominance status, as the world’s leading producer and a top exporter of oil and natural gas, has positioned us to not rely on the free flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz like other countries. If anything, Operation Epic Fury actually underscored the importance of producing reliable, affordable, and secure energy here at home. Many of our allies that have tried transitioning to intermittent and unreliable renewable energy sources have predictably failed to break their reliance on foreign oil that goes through the Strait."She continued, "Several countries from around the world are now looking to emulate the president’s energy dominance agenda and are advancing new partnerships that enhance their energy security with the United States.”
