Ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is tearing into her successor’s train-wreck news conference about Friday’s nationwide ground stop.
Markwayne Mullin, who replaced Noem after her firing in March, has been slammed for his messaging in the wake of the ground stop, with his briefings leaving the public with more questions than answers about what caused the country’s air network to be grounded.
Mullin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy fumbled through vague explanations of how a “telecommunications outage” triggered the chaos, but at times directly contradicted each other.
Noem was not impressed.
“I was looking for something encouraging to post about that press conference, the security of our nation, the honesty of our press…” she wrote on X, making clear she had nothing positive to say about her successor’s briefing.
Noem ended on an ominous note: “And never take tomorrow for granted. Please dear Jesus, bless America and keep us in your hands.”
Noem’s post included a photo of her granddaughter Addie. In 2023, Noem boasted at a National Rifle Association forum that Addie, then just under two years old, “already has a shotgun and she already has a rifle, and she’s got a little pony named Sparkles too.”
There was plenty to criticize after Duffy and Mullin gave bumbling, contradicting answers in primetime on Friday.
Mullin, 49, suggested that new technology Duffy, 55, implemented was “overwhelming the older system,” while Duffy claimed that “all of the new equipment that we put in, none of that went down.”
Mullin also contradicted himself on whether a cyberattack had occurred, declaring that “there is actually no cyber attack,” only to later say that “there’s nothing completely certain right now.”
The pair repeatedly shifted blame to Congress for failing to provide funding, with Duffy demanding, “I want $50 billion.”
The Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FAA lifted the ground stop shortly after 8:15 p.m. on Friday, more than four hours after it began, stranding millions of passengers. However, delays and thousands of cancellations have carried over into Saturday, with airport chaos expected to last through the weekend.
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