On the heels of Kristi Noem’s firing, a former Department of Homeland Security staffer warns that her prospective replacement, Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, will do little to improve the agency, which the former staffer says has “become a totally lawless place” under Donald Trump.
Miles Taylor, who served as a chief of staff for the DHS during Trump’s first term, told Nicolle Wallace on Thursday’s “Deadline: White House” that the administration “is trying to send an arsonist into a burning house,” adding that “no one should be under the illusion” that Mullin “is going to go into DHS and clean it up.”
Taylor described DHS as a “burning building” full of corruption and abuses of power, and said that by selecting Mullin, a loyal supporter of the president, as Noem’s successor, “they’re sending a guy in there who helped start that fire.”
Taylor also told Wallace that Noem’s firing “comes at a really dangerous moment” for the U.S., as global tensions flare following the military strikes on Iran.
“I’m not playing the violin for Kristi Noem,” he said. “But this comes at a very strange moment. Donald Trump said that he thought about the implications for U.S. security when he went into Iran, and now he’s firing the defensive team here in the United States.”
“He’s leaving us totally exposed,” Taylor warned. “He’s putting the Department of Homeland Security in turmoil at a moment when we know the Iranians will plan terrorist attacks against the United States.”
Taylor said these concerns should be top of mind for members of Congress as they consider Mullin’s nomination.
“My question in that confirmation hearing is if Markwayne Mullin is prepared to actually get the department to focus on what it’s supposed to do [concerning] terrorists, instead of calling American protesters antifa and pretending they’re domestic terrorists,” he said. “That’s the big question.”
“We are in a war right now, this guy can’t even seem to figure out what to call it,” Taylor added, referencing the senator’s recent claim he “misspoke” when he labeled the military operation in Iran a war. “And now we’re expecting him to go run the defensive team. Once again, this just shows the president’s total and complete recklessness with national security.”
You can watch Taylor’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
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