Ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem faced a slew of scandals, media snafus and ridiculous moments before President Trump finally fired her Thursday.
The 54-year-old former governor of South Dakota — nicknamed “ICE Barbie” for her perfectly coiffed tresses and TV-ready makeup — has caught heat for everything from killing her dog to running a $220 million ad campaign of herself dressed as a cowgirl.
Here’s a round-up of the most outrageous moments of her controversial year-and-change-long tenure.
Wearing a $60,000 Rolex to visit prison
Noem was slammed as wildly out of touch in March 2025, when she wore a $60,000 Rolex watch to tour a run-down El Salvadoran prison.
She wore the glittering gold “Cosmograph Daytona” timepiece — dubbed the “exotic sports car” of watches — as she shot footage next to overcrowded prisoner bunks, where hundreds of Venezuelan migrants had been deported and incarcerated.
Luxury air travel and a ‘Big Beautiful Jet’
Noem sparked criticism for using border funds to buy a fleet of private luxury aircraft— including a $70-million jet that may have been used by Noem herself.
The department spent more than $300 million on three private jets, including two Gulfstream G700s purchased and a Boeing 737, nicknamed the “Big Beautiful Jet,” according to reports.
One jet features a queen-size bed, showers, a kitchen, four large flat-screen televisions — drawing accusations that she wasted agency funds.
$220 million ad boondoggle
An expensive ad campaign featuring Noem wearing a cowboy hat on a horse has irked Trump — who said he hadn’t signed off $220 million advertisement.
When Republican Sen. John Kennedy pressed Noem at a congressional hearing this week about whether Trump had approved the self-promoting ad, she implied that he had.
Trump, however, said he “never knew anything about it.”
Sources told The Post that Noem’s response to the ad boondoggle — and being asked whether she had had a sexual relationship with her top aide Corey Lewandowski — pushed Trump to axe “ICE Barbie.”
Shooting her ‘untrainable’ dog Cricket
In an attempt to show she can do “difficult, messy and ugly” things as a politician, Noem wrote in her memoir that she shot dead her family dog, Cricket.
Noem said the 14-month-old wirehaired pointer was “untrainable” and “dangerous,” so she led the pup into a gravel pit and killed her.
“I hated that dog,” she wrote. “It had to be done.”
The anecdote didn’t exactly land well, as critics called her everything from “deliberately cruel” to “lazy” and “evil.”
Sources told The Post at the time that the puppy slaughter killed Noem’s shot at becoming Trump’s 2024 running mate.
“Trump isn’t a dog person necessarily,” the source said, “but I think he understands that you can’t choose a puppy killer as your pick, for blatantly obvious reasons.”
Pilot fired for leaving blanket behind
Lewandowski fired a Coast Guard pilot for misplacing Noem’s blanket as they switched planes.
Lewandowski — who Noem is rumored to be having an affair with — reportedly walked into the cockpit of the Coast Guard plane as it was taking off and flipped out over the missing blanket. Lewandowski has disputed the account of the incident.
Noem, who is married, recently dismissed rumors of the alleged affair with her adviser as “garbage.”