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Behind the scenes, that claim triggered a furious reaction from Trump.
Kennedy later revealed that the president contacted him directly after the hearing to dispute the testimony and make clear that he had never signed off on the massive advertising buy.
The Louisiana senator described the president’s reaction in vivid terms.
“The president, Kennedy said, was ‘mad as a murder hornet.’”
Kennedy explained that what he heard during the hearing did not match what the president later told him privately.
“I heard the Secretary say that she went to the President and said, I propose to spend a quarter billion dollars on TV advertisements in which I am the star, and the President thought that was a swell idea, that’s what I heard the Secretary say. Her version of the truth and the President’s version of the truth are decidedly different,” Sen. Kennedy told Melugin.
The controversy surrounding the massive DHS ad contract had already been simmering on Capitol Hill. Kennedy said he had been troubled by the size of the spending and the optics of the campaign, particularly since Noem herself was prominently featured in the advertisements.
Before the Senate hearing even began, Kennedy reportedly contacted the White House to warn officials that he planned to confront the issue publicly.
The senator told reporters that administration officials were aware of his concerns but did not attempt to discourage him from raising the issue during the hearing.
That confrontation came during Tuesday’s Senate session when Kennedy directly questioned Noem about the ad deal and whether the president had approved it.
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According to Kennedy, Noem stated under oath that Trump had signed off on the campaign.
The fallout was swift.
After the hearing concluded, Kennedy says the president personally called him to push back against the claim.
Kennedy later recounted that Trump strongly denied having any knowledge of the $200 million contract.
The call reportedly revealed another surprising detail.
During the conversation, Trump began discussing potential leadership changes at the Department of Homeland Security.
“The president, when he called me Tuesday night, the night of the hearing, when he was mad as a murder hornet, he asked me what I thought about Markwayne.”
That reference was to Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin, a close Trump ally who has increasingly been mentioned as a possible replacement in key national security roles.
Kennedy said he gave the president an honest assessment of Mullin during the conversation.
The Louisiana senator also injected his trademark humor when describing the exchange.
“D. If I didn’t believe the three things I just told you, I’d lie to you because Markwayne would whip my a.”
The tense moment appears to have been the final turning point in Noem’s already troubled tenure at DHS.
Sources speaking to Fox News indicated that frustrations had been building for months inside the administration over a series of controversies involving the department’s leadership.
Those issues reportedly included internal management disputes, complaints about staff handling, and repeated clashes with leadership at other federal agencies such as Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Additional controversies, including allegations regarding Noem’s personal conduct and tensions with other officials, had also reportedly strained relationships within the administration.
According to one senior source familiar with the situation, the advertising controversy ultimately pushed the situation past the breaking point.
“It was time. Replacing Kristi was based on the culmination of her many unfortunate leadership mishaps including the fallout in Minnesota, the $200 million dollars ad campaign, the allegations of infidelity, the mismanagement of her staff, and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE. Kristi’s drama sadly overshadowed and distracted from the Administration’s extremely popular immigration agenda, which will continue full force.”
For Trump and his allies, the episode underscores a recurring challenge inside Washington: massive government spending combined with internal bureaucratic miscommunication.
For critics of the administration, however, the dispute highlights deeper tensions surrounding immigration policy and the messaging war over border security.
Either way, the explosive hearing — and the president’s reported “murder hornet” reaction — has ensured that the controversy surrounding the $200 million DHS ad campaign is far from over.
