In today’s newsletter: Trump says he wants Iran’s leadership structure fully removed. What prompted Kristi Noem’s firing as Homeland Security Secretary. And how a delay in federal funding has cities worried about the cost of hosting the World Cup.
Here’s what to know today.
Trump says he wants Iran’s leadership structure gone and has preferences for a “good leader”
President Donald Trump indicated that he wants Iran’s leadership structure fully removed.
“We want to go in and clean out everything,” Trump told NBC News. “We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period.”
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“We want them to have a good leader. We have some people who I think would do a good job,” he said, declining to name anyone, but adding that he was taking steps to make sure people on the list are not killed.
The president also downplayed the possibility of a ground invasion, though he noted the intensity of strikes will continue.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi told “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas yesterday that the country had not made a decision to start a war with its neighbors — despite striking Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and others. He said those attacks were against American targets, which are “unfortunately located in the soils of our neighbors.”
What led Trump to replace Kristi Noem?
President Donald Trump was already frustrated with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, but her poor performance at two congressional hearings this week is what finally cost her the job.
Her position had become unstable following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers in Minneapolis this year, and after weeks of poor polling for Trump’s immigration agenda. The secretary also had fraying relationships with the U.S. Coast Guard and DHS staffers, among others.
Noem had handpicked contractors to lead a $100 million ICE recruitment campaign instead of holding a competitive bidding process. These same firms were previously awarded a $220 million ad campaign that encouraged immigrants to self-deport — a topic of questioning during her the hearings.
“I wasn’t thrilled with it. I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it,” Trump told NBC News.
The announcement that she would be replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., came as a surprise to Noem, who received a phone call during a Senate lunch. Mullin is expected to take over on March 31, though he still needs to be confirmed, while Noem will assume a new role called “special envoy for the Shield of the Americas.”
Democrats vowed to probe Noem’s time as DHS secretary if they took back power in the November midterms, while at least two congressional candidates called for a future criminal prosecution.
Read more about Noem’s sacking.
More politics news:
- RFK Jr. vowed to restore public trust in health. It’s not working, a new survey suggests.
- A commission vote on Trump’s ballroom has been pushed to April after critics blasted the plans as “hideous,” “appalling,” and “shameful.”
- Republican leaders called on Rep. Tony Gonzales to end his re-election campaign after he admitted to having an affair with a former aide.
- The House declined to constrain Trump’s war, just as the Senate did.
- A new lawsuit says Trump’s TikTok deal benefited firms that “personally enriched” him.
World Cup games at risk after DHS delays in delivering federal grants
Seven FIFA World Cup games set to be held in Foxborough, Massachusetts are in question after a delay in federal funding.
They’re not the only host city worried about covering the undistributed funding.
More than $600 million was set aside during last year’s budget negotiations to assist host cities. The funds were supposed to be distributed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency by Jan. 30 — but the cities have yet to receive the money.
FEMA said it was in the final stages of awarding the grants when its funding lapsed last month in a shutdown, and that its grants management system “is not operational.”
Read more about the cities’ concerns here.
Read All About It
- AI company Anthropic says the Pentagon has declared it a national security risk.
- ICE is re-evaluating the future of Camp East Montana, its largest detention facility.
- After Trump told pregnant women to “fight like hell” not to take Tylenol, orders for the drug declined among pregnant patients who visited emergency departments.
- Pop star Britney Spears was arrested on suspicion of a DUI in Southern California.
- TV host Savannah Guthrie visited the ‘TODAY’ studio as she discussed plans to eventually return to the show as the search for her missing mother goes on.
Staff Pick: How U.S. Army veteran began serving his country as a sled hockey player
Jen Lee became the first active-duty soldier selected for a U.S. Paralympic winter sports team and went on to win three gold medals as a goaltender for the sled hockey team.
“Not just a dream come true, but a surreal experience, for sure,” he said on NBC Local’s “My New Favorite Olympian” ahead of the 2026 Milan Cortina Paralympics, which begin today.
Lee — who was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and raised in San Francisco — enlisted in the Army as a helicopter mechanic in 2005 and two years later was deployed to Iraq.
In 2009, aged just 22, Lee was thrown off his motorcycle and suffered a leg injury that would require amputation after being struck by a vehicle in Jacksonville, Florida.
He was transferred to a military rehabilitation in Texas called Center for the Intrepid where he rehabbed alongside military members who also suffered amputations, limb trauma and severe burns.
“As much as I wanted to feel sorry for myself, those guys were pushing, those guys wanted to get back,” Lee said. Inspired, Lee soon had a new mission: to win a gold medal.
Now 39 years old, he is seeking his fourth career gold as he continues to serve the United States on ice.
— By Mike Gavin, NBC Local
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