AP Photo/Ronda Churchill

The Wall Street Journal’s Michelle Hackman, Josh Dawsey and Tarini Parti published bombshell reporting on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and what it dubbed “constant chaos” within her department.

Here are the excerpts getting the most attention, plus DHS’s responses:

🔷 A pilot was reportedly fired for forgetting to move Noem’s blanket: “Noem had to switch planes after a maintenance issue was discovered, but her blanket wasn’t moved to the second plane, according to the people familiar with the incident. The Coast Guard pilot was initially fired and told to take a commercial flight home when they reached their destination. They eventually reinstated the pilot because no one else was available to fly them home.”

^ A DHS spokesperson didn’t respond to this specific incident but said Noem has “made personnel decisions to deliver excellence.”

🔷 Noem was reportedly irked by border czar Tom Homan: “Noem routinely berated staff if she saw Homan on TV and kept track of both their appearances to make sure she was on TV more than him, according to people familiar with the matter. On at least one occasion, she asked aides to ensure she drew a bigger crowd at a conference than Homan, who was speaking on a different day, one of the people said.”

^ The DHS spokesperson denied this.

🔷 Trump ‘uncomfortable’ with Noem’s close relationship with her adviser and ally Corey Lewandowski:

“Noem and Lewandowski’s close relationship had already made Trump and his top advisers uncomfortable. Lewandowski had initially wanted to formally serve as Noem’s chief of staff, but Trump rejected the idea due to reports of a romantic relationship between the two—which he has continued to bring up, officials say.”

^ The spokesperson said DHS “doesn’t waste time with salacious, baseless gossip.”

Read the full report: ‘A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem’s Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS’

A number of Democrats have weighed in, including David Axelrod: “This piece was like Murder on the Orient Express. There are so many sources all over the government sharing shocking detail-including the WH, DOJ and @Sec_Noem's own agency-that she'd have to spend the rest of her tenure, and maybe her life, figuring out all of their names!”

Some interesting analysis from Politico’s Jonathan Martin: “The suggestion that there are fewer leaks in Trump 2.0 isn’t quite right. There are just fewer leaks about Trump himself. Because you will not find a more admin-wide effort than this. Message: please, Mr. Trump, dump Corey and Kristi.”

💬 Follow today’s live blog

The Trump administration sued Harvard University over its admissions process.

What we know: The Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Harvard of withholding data the Trump administration requested to determine if the school is complying with the Supreme Court decision to ban affirmative action in higher education admissions. The DOJ says Harvard has dodged giving over the documents for more than 10 months. Read more

The Washington Examiner’s Rob Crilly reports that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will not have a replacement during her spring maternity leave. Instead, there will be a big cast of characters, including Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Leavitt said.

Throwback to Leavitt’s first maternity leave: “She famously managed only four days of maternity leave when she had her first baby, named Niko, in July 2024, hurrying back on to the airwaves after the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.” 

Trump is visiting Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He’s speaking to military families, as well as the specialized troops who helped oust Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. 💻 Watch Trump’s 1:30 p.m. remarks

Senators have left town without a deal to fund DHS past midnight.

That means starting at 12:01 a.m., agencies under the Homeland Security umbrella will see a lapse in funding — affecting roughly 13 percent of the federal civilian workforce, per The Washington Post. That includes the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Secret Service, etc.

Buckle in: This could be a long one. Lawmakers in both parties have little confidence this will be sorted out quickly.

Will this affect immigration enforcement?: Immigration enforcement is what sparked this funding fight, after all. But ironically, this shouldn’t affect immigration enforcement for the time being. When Republicans passed their monster One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer, they allocated extra funding for the administration’s immigration priorities.

This affects lawmakers’ weekend travel: House Republican leaders canceled the official House delegation attending the Munich Security Conference, Politico reports. That means if lawmakers want to go, they need to plan it on their own.

Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) was the only Senate Democrat to vote on Thursday to keep DHS funded for a full year.

New today: Fetterman appeared on Politico’s “The Conversation Podcast,” and while he predicted Democrats will take control of the House in November, he says he thinks Democrats have a “brand” problem.

“President Trump’s nomination of Jeremy Carl to oversee the U.S. in international organizations is in doubt over opposition from a key Republican senator, who pointed to Carl’s past statements on Israel and Jews as disqualifying,” reports The Hill’s Laura Kelly.

Who?: Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah).

What this means: “Curtis’s opposition will cause a stalemate in a committee vote if all Democrats also vote against him. Republicans have a 12-member majority over the 10 Democrats on the committee.”

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