Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Trump on Thursday abruptly ended what was billed as the first cabinet meeting of the new year without taking any questions from reporters and without hearing from one of his most prominent — and recently most troublesome — cabinet secretaries, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem, who was seated at the far end of the table to Trump’s left, did not speak a word during the roughly 90-minute session, nor did Trump acknowledge her presence. It was a stark contrast from the previous nine cabinet meetings held since Trump’s return to power just over a year ago. After Border Patrol agents fired shots into Pretti’s back within five seconds of wrestling him to the ground after one officer removed a holstered pistol from Pretti’s waist, Noem and Border Patrol official Greg Bovino both falsely claimed that Pretti had brandished the weapon or approached officers with the intent of shooting them.