No comments from Kristi Noem in first Trump cabinet meeting since Minneapolis shooting

Venezuelan airspace to open soon

Trump said he instructed US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and US military leaders to open up the airspace by the end of the day Thursday.

“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela and they’ll be safe there,” Trump said.

Working to avoid government shutdown

Commenting on a possible partial government shutdown, Trump said his administration is speaking with congressional Democrats to avoid it.

“We’re working on that right now,” Trump said while declining to go into specifics. He added: “We don’t want a shutdown.”

‘Last meeting was boring’

Then the cabinet meeting took an unexpected turn as Trump abruptly brought up the last one, which was held in December, and termed it ‘boring’.

Recalling being seen as struggling to keep his eyes open during that gathering, Trump insisted, “I didn’t sleep. I just closed them because I wanted to get the hell out of there.”

The comment drew laughter, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has made a trademark of laughing loudest during Cabinet meetings.

‘Asked Putin not to attack Kyiv’

The US President also informed his cabinet that he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin not to target the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv for one week, as the region is experiencing frigid temperatures.

“I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this … extraordinary cold,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Trump added that Putin has “agreed to that.”

Trump to name Jerome Powell’s successor

Trump said at his cabinet meeting that “next week” he’ll announce his choice to replace Jerome Powell as the chair of the Federal Reserve.

The president has criticized Powell for not slashing benchmark interest rates as low as Trump would like. Powell has insisted that the Fed stay independent of politics and make its choices based on inflation and job market data.

Trump said his pick will do a “good job” and that he wants the Fed to cut rates when there are signs of economic growth.

Silent Kristi Noem

While US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were among those called up, the meeting stood out for who was not given the opportunity to speak.

The most notable among them was Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who is under fire from both Democrats and some Republicans over the two fatal shooting incidents in Minneapolis this month, in which federal agents shot and killed two American citizens.

The killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti has turned public opinion against Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown, and many are calling for Noem to be fired or impeached.

The cabinet meeting ended without Trump taking any questions from the press.