In the wake of a diplomatic transition facilitated by Donald Trump, Kristi Noem finds herself facing a troubling exodus of staff. Even before some of her key team members could settle into their roles, they have been sidelined, casting a shadow over her new tenure.

Reports indicate that four officials have been placed on administrative leave at the directive of the White House. This abrupt move has left Noem’s Shield of the Americas office, where she previously served as Homeland Security chief, noticeably deserted. The Daily Mail has uncovered that Noem has also retreated from the public eye amid these developments.

The individuals affected include former deputy chief of staff Troup Hemenway, ex-deputy general counsel Giovanna Cinelli, along with junior staffers Josh King and Octavian Miller, as confirmed by sources.

Senior officials within the State Department revealed that Noem managed to conduct only a single meeting this week, opting for a virtual format. Her remaining team members are either scattered across the main State Department headquarters or are opting to work remotely, further illustrating the disarray.

With her team significantly reduced and a clear strategy yet to emerge, insiders suggest that Kristi Noem’s prospects in her current role are uncertain, casting doubt on her future within the administration.

‘This post was intended as a soft landing so it didn’t look like Noem was immediately being fired,’ a State Department source told the Daily Mail.

‘But no one really thinks she should have this job,’ the source added. ‘The State Department was not happy to have her here and the understanding is that she’s not going to be here for much longer.’

Noem was fired as Homeland Security Secretary in early March, losing her post atop the nation’s largest law enforcement agency.

But Noem’s astonishing fall from grace was still far from complete.

Sources tell us at least four officials who followed Noem from DHS were placed on administrative leave at her new office, the Daily Mail can now reveal

The Daily Mail revealed Kristi Noem’s husband Bryon Noem is a secret crossdresser who exchanges photos of himself online wearing giant fake breasts 

For the new State Department gig, she became the subject of mockery when photos surfaced of her in Guyana sitting next to her lover Corey Lewandowski at a table with the nation’s president and other government leaders.

Then a bigger bombshell dropped last week when the Daily Mail published photos of her crossdressing husband, Bryon, that he had sent to online fetish models.

The scandal sparked national security concerns because her husband’s activity opened her up to blackmail as head of Homeland Security. 

The scandals that have rocked her personal life were only compounded by Noem’s spiraling political career.

Her new office was established to combat drug cartels, international criminal organizations, and migrant crime in the Western Hemisphere by coordinating with Homeland Security, the State Department, and Pentagon.

However, along with Noem’s embarrassing debut in Guyana, there were simply no clear roles or responsibilities for many of the staff brought over, sources tell the Daily Mail.

‘The thing itself is still being figured out,’ one Trump official familiar with the matter told the Daily Mail. ‘It doesn’t make sense to just have a bunch of folks not really having a substantive role.

‘The administrative leave, if anything, is an opportunity for folks to figure out what they’re doing, whether that be with the Shield of the Americas, the State Department, or wherever else, while the big picture starts to sort itself out.’

Her indignity is laid bare inside her new offices, a stripped-down operation that bears little resemblance to the sprawling agency she commanded at DHS.

Mr Noem supports his wife last month by sitting dutifully behind her at a congressional hearing scrutinizing her aggressive immigration enforcement tactics

This post was intended as a soft landing so it didn’t look like Noem was immediately being fired,’ a State Department source told the Daily Mail of the newly-created Shield of the Americas

The once highly public personality, who earned the nickname ICE Barbie for her glamorous looks, outfit changes and reality TV leadership at DHS, had her belongings packed up from headquarters.

She and her dwindled inner circle then moved into a building housing the Institute for Peace, an outfit that had plenty of spare space after being gutted by Elon Musk and his team of downsizers at DOGE.

The growing promise of a vibrant new agency, celebrated March 7 at an inaugural summit at Trump Doral Miami, is already giving way to a stark reality.

Multiple State Department and administration sources told the Daily Mail the office has struggled to get off the ground, with few staff even showing up for an operation marked by inactivity and uncertainty.

Officials in the State Department have been less than welcoming of their new colleagues, believing there is no real need for Noem’s outfit given that her marching orders could be handled by other staffers, sources say. 

Rather than build out a functioning team, the administration appears to have paused and reassessed, leaving key hires in limbo.

A source told the Daily Mail that Noem’s personal office is smaller than her one at DHS. She’s decorated it with memorabilia from her time leading Homeland Security, including different hats she wore as secretary.

The rest of her staffers’ desks are sparsely decorated.

Noem has withdrawn from public view after photos emerged showing her husband Bryon is a cross-dresser

Facilities staff at the State Department hesitated to fully move in or discard packing materials because they believed Noem’s tenure would be short-lived, according to one official.

Another source told the Daily Mail the atmosphere surrounding the office signaled it was being ‘shrunk to nothing,’ with little expectation it would become a lasting fixture.

‘Noem’s stuff has been moved in there, but she never shows up,’ one administration official said.

‘I don’t think it’s a real thing.’

Sources told the Daily Mail that one senior aide slated to follow Noem from DHS to the State Department never made the move. Steven Munoz, her former deputy chief of staff, instead leveraged his relationships with senior White House officials to remain at Homeland Security.

Munoz is widely viewed as one of Noem’s closest and most loyal aides within the department.

The Daily Mail has contacted the State Department and Noem for comment. The White House declined to comment.

Former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling continues to assert her innocence following accusations of killing her newborn son, placing his body in a trash bag, and subsequently ordering McDonald’s.

Snelling, aged 21, entered a plea of not guilty to first-degree manslaughter during a court appearance on Friday. Authorities allege that she abandoned the newborn in a closet shortly after giving birth on August 27.

Following the grim discovery of the infant’s body, Snelling faced charges of abusing a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth. She denied all charges.

Last month, she faced manslaughter charges after the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office informed a grand jury that the baby had been born alive and died from “asphyxia by undetermined means,” according to police reports.

Although Snelling was initially held at the Fayette County Detention Center, she was reportedly released just hours later after her father posted her $10,000 bond.

She faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the first-degree manslaughter charge and an additional 11 years for the remaining charges if found guilty.

Snelling’s horrified college roommates were the first to discover the dead baby boy in a black plastic bag stuffed in her closet at their shared off-campus home in Lexington. 

In her room, they also found a “blood-soaked towel on the floor and a plastic bag containing evidence of childbirth” – as well as the infant, who was “cold to the touch,” they told a 911 operator. 

The roommates – who had suspected the cheerleader was concealing a pregnancy – told cops they’d heard loud, strange noises coming from Snelling’s room around the time she gave birth at roughly 4 a.m.

Snelling then allegedly tried to clean up the scene, showered and left the house – skipping morning classes and a visit to the school clinic – and went to McDonald’s. 

Snelling initially claimed during an interview with police that the baby fell on the floor after she gave birth but that she didn’t think he was “breathing or alive.” 

She soon changed her story, saying she had passed out “on top of the baby” and woke up to find him “turning blue and purple.” 

An investigation revealed she told medical staff that the newborn had shown “a little bit of fetal movement” and made a “whimper” after he was born.

A pretrial conference  in Snelling’s case is scheduled for May 14, and a status hearing is set for June 12.

Her lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

California authorities have recently uncovered a complex multimillion-dollar scheme involving the misuse of stolen identities from individuals outside the state. The fraudulent activity was linked to billing for hospice services under a government insurance program.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta announced charges against 21 individuals, with five arrests made so far. This action comes amid criticism from the Trump administration, which accused California of insufficient efforts to curb fraud.

In response, federal officials have initiated a nationwide crackdown on improper spending, particularly within federal benefit programs. Just last week, eight people were apprehended in connection with various healthcare fraud cases in the Los Angeles area.

“This isn’t a political issue for us. It’s about safeguarding taxpayer money, maintaining essential programs for vulnerable Californians, and upholding the integrity of our state,” Bonta emphasized in a press statement.

The investigation began after the Department of Health Care Services alerted state prosecutors to potential fraudulent activities. Investigators uncovered a scheme where personal data of non-California residents was purchased from the dark web. This information was then used to enroll individuals in Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, which offers free or low-cost health insurance to low-income families and individuals.

Then, those individuals bought 14 hospice companies and began billing for hospice services for the stolen identities. They billed a total of about $267 million, Bonta’s office said.

The individuals are charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, money laundering, and identity theft with aggravated white collar crime and money laundering enhancements.

“For years, California has led the charge to protect public programs from fraud and abuse,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in the news release. “We hold accountable to the fullest extent of the law anyone who tries to rip off taxpayers and take advantage of public programs, particularly those as sensitive as hospice care.

Under Bonta, the state has filed 119 hospice-related criminal cases and secured 51 convictions, his office said.

The Trump administration has made California a focus of its national anti-fraud efforts and zeroed in on Medicare hospice fraud in the Los Angeles area. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March to create an anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance. Most of the efforts have focused on states run by Democrats, though Republican-led Florida was among those asked to share more information on how they identify, prevent and address Medicaid fraud.

For the first time, the courageous students who intervened to stop an active shooter at Old Dominion University are sharing their experiences. The tragic event claimed the life of a respected professor and community figure, leaving a lasting impact on those who were present.

On Thursday, March 12, Mohamed Jalloh, who had a previous conviction for aiding the Islamic State terrorist organization, launched an attack at the university. The violent incident resulted in one fatality and left two others injured.

When law enforcement officers arrived on the scene, Jalloh was found dead. The attack took the life of Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, a cherished professor of military science. During a press briefing, FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans praised the students present for taking action to “subdue” the assailant.

Among those who bravely confronted the attacker were Old Dominion University cadets Louis Ancheta and Wesley Myers. They recounted how they managed to neutralize the threat posed by Jalloh during the shooting that occurred in Norfolk, Virginia, on March 12.

Old Dominion University cadets Louis Ancheta and Wesley Myers described neutralizing the attacker who killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah during a March 12 shooting in Norfolk, Virginia. (Army ROTC)

Students involved in the incident reflected on that day, saying it was a day like any other.

During the class period, a student said a man they didn’t recognize, later identified as Jalloh, walked into the classroom and repeatedly and nervously asked if this class was ROTC.

“I wasn’t thinking about what that question really meant,” said Cadet Louis Ancheta.

Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was identified as the instructor killed in Thursday’s deadly shooting at Old Dominion University. (US Army)

As Shah confirmed the class was ROTC, Cadet Wesley Myers, who was in class that day, said Jalloh shouted “Allahu Akbar” and began shooting at Shah.

Instincts immediately kicked in and Shah lunged toward the gunman, according to the students. 

As Shah wrestled with the gunman, Ancheta leaped into action, taking a pocket-knife and repeatedly stabbing Jalloh.

“If he didn’t lunge at him, I wouldn’t be here right now,” said Cadet Jah-Ira Utarte, who was sitting in the front row of the classroom at the time, said in an interview released by the Department of War. “There’s a possibility he could’ve turned his gun and I could’ve been next.”

In a March 22 ceremony, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael R. Weimer presented honors to Old Dominion University Army ROTC cadets, acknowledging their bravery and sacrifice during a classroom shooting earlier in the month. (Ian Ives/U.S. Army)

Ancheta said during the fighting between his professor and the gunman, he was shot by a stray bullet.

“It really didn’t feel like it hit me,” Ancheta said. He continued to attempt to subdue the gunman alongside Shah and other cadets jumped in.

Once the gun was away from Jalloh, Cadet Jeremy Rawlinson said they immediately switched to combat care.

“It just was what I felt I had to do in that moment, to get there and do what I could,” Myers said. “It’s different when it’s not a mannequin and it’s your friend.”

Cadet Samuel Reineberg said he was “like a laser beam” to Shah, who had been shot in the chest.

Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, the individual identified as the shooter at ODU on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (The Intercept)

It wasn’t until later that day, the students found out about Shah’s death.

“There was definitely a sense of, ‘could we have done more?’” Cadet Oshea Bego said.

Shah is regarded as a hero among his students.

“[Shah] used the last of his strength to tackle that guy and it gave us just enough time that we needed to be able to get on [the gunman],” Rawlinson said.

“One of the last things he told my mom when they met this summer was that he would take care of me. He followed through on that word,” Bego said.

“We’re not even commissioned yet and we’re dealing with these threats and pretty much unprecedented attacks,” Bego said.

Brian O. Hemphill, the president of ODU, said the university will be conducting an independent review following the incident in a statement on Thursday. Hemphill described the shooting as a “defining moment” in the university’s history.

“This is not merely a procedural step; it is a moral imperative to ensure the safety and security of every member of our campus community remains first and foremost,” Hemphill said in the statement.

The review will examine “critical procedures,” “overall preparedness” and “[the university’s] response,” according to the release.