Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) on Thursday shared an intriguing theory behind the ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, arguing that President Donald Trump had only fired her to protect a top official, the true “dark heart” of the administration, from accountability.

Newsom has been touring the country to promote his new memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,” and was speaking in New Hampshire on Thursday with progressive influencer Jack Cocchiarella when the topic of Noem’s firing came up in front of a cheering audience.

“I mean, let’s be honest,” Newsom said. “The dark heart of this administration is not Noem, it is [White House deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller, and he must be next. And it’s really true. In many ways, she is just a scapegoat in all of this.”

He added: “Everything she was doing was designed by Miller. And I don’t believe it, I know it.”

Stephen Miller speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on February 20, 2025.
Stephen Miller speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on February 20, 2025.

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Trump announced Thursday that Noem will take on a newly formed position as “special envoy for the Americas Shield” and confirmed that he nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) as her replacement.

Noem was fired just days after her disastrous hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which she refused to recant or apologize for defaming Renée Good and Alex Pretti after they were killed by federal immigration agents in Minnesota earlier this year.

Noem baselessly claimed that the two Americans were engaging in “domestic terrorism” when they were shot dead by government agents, and that Pretti was attempting to “kill law enforcement” before being disarmed and killed.

Privately, Noem allegedly claimed that Miller and Trump had guided her rhetoric about the murders, only to have her left high and dry.

Miller has led Trump’s hardline immigration agenda and tough foreign policy, openly justifying a “might makes right” approach by seizing Venezuela’s oil and potentially annexing Greenland through U.S. military force. He was also one of the architects of the ban on travel to Muslim-majority countries during Trump’s first term.

Newsom, meanwhile, has sparked rumors of a 2028 presidential run, criticizing Trump during his book tour.

“Donald Trump is in retreat,” he said. “Today is a perfect example of that, with the first firing of a high-profile Cabinet member. It’s in retreat in places like Minnesota, because the steel spine of citizens who stood up, true patriots of this country, rejected all of that.”