On the first full day of Donald Trump’s second term, the president fired Adm. Linda Fagan, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, evicting her from her home with three hours’ notice. The fact that Fagan was a four-star admiral and the first woman to lead a branch of the military apparently meant very little to the Republican White House.
The developments were important on their own, but what followed was an unexpected controversy about who moved into Fagan’s waterfront Coast Guard home after her ouster: Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem filled the vacancy in the house previously designated for the Coast Guard commandant.
This was more common than it should have been. In fact, a variety of prominent Trump administration officials, including high-profile Cabinet secretaries, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have moved into homes usually reserved for high-ranking officers.
The New York Times reported in March, “The practice of moving public servants onto guarded military bases has no modern precedent. It raises some unsettling questions about the increase in violence against public figures, about the overall health of American democracy and, perhaps most obviously, about who is paying for this.”
But of particular interest were the circumstances surrounding Noem’s accommodations. In fact, interest in the South Dakota Republican’s housing took on a greater significance last summer, when The Washington Post reported that the then-homeland security secretary was “living for free in a military home typically reserved for the U.S. Coast Guard’s top admiral,” which in turn “raised concern within the agency.” (She denied the reporting, saying she used “personal dollars” to pay rent.)
Making matters worse, The Wall Street Journal reported a few weeks ago that Noem remained in the waterfront Coast Guard home for a month after her ouster from the Department of Homeland Security.
It took a while, but “The Rachel Maddow Show” confirmed that Noem finally has exited Coast Guard housing, clearing the way for the current Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Kevin Lunday, to move in.
As for whether the former Cabinet secretary — who’s now serving as a “special envoy” to the Shield of the Americas, a poorly defined White House security initiative for the Western Hemisphere — has moved into other government housing, the scrutiny is ongoing. Watch this space.
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