Trump defends Noem at National Prayer Breakfast, rejects calls to fire DHS secretary: 'Why would I do that?'

By Fox News · Fox News

President Donald Trump completely rejected the idea of firing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem despite mounting criticism over the administration's immigration enforcement tactics. While addressing the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Trump said that he was asked about firing Noem during his interview with "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Llamas. The president dismissed the notion entirely. "Why would I do that?" Trump said. "We have the strongest border in the history of our country. We have the best crime numbers we've ever had going back to the year 1900." NBC released a transcript of the interview ahead of time, giving a look at the moment Trump was asked whether he still believes in Noem. GRAHAM PUSHES BACK ON TILLIS' CRITICISM OF NOEM, MILLER FOR LABELING MAN KILLED BY BORDER PATROL A 'TERRORIST' "Look, look, she was in charge of the border. The border’s closed. I mean, everybody gives me A+ on the border. The border was a disaster. People were pouring into our country," Trump said, according to the NBC transcript. When Llamas pressed the president on the issue of enforcement, Trump doubled down on his confidence in his administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. "They don’t even try and come up now... We have very good — you just — you just asked me a — Kristi. We have the best crime numbers that we’ve had in 125 years. I think she’s doing a very good job. Again, public relations. She’s not getting credit for the job that she does," Trump is quoted as saying in the transcript. REP JEFFRIES ESCALATES RHETORIC AGAINST NOEM, SAYS DHS LEADER SHOULD BE ‘PUT ON ICE PERMANENTLY’ During his speech on Thursday, Trump defended several members of his administration, while taking swipes at former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. He called Biden the "world's worst president" and said Obama was "a terrible divider of our country." The president joked that his most recent predecessor, Biden, would not take it personally that he ca…