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On Sunday the controversial Homeland Security secretary,Kirstjen Nielsen, became the latest example of the historically high turnover of top officials in PresidentDonald Trump‘s administration.

Nielsen, 46, shared something else with some of the other ex senior aides: Her ouster was announced on the president’s Twitter before she could confirm it herself. (Former White House CounselDon McGahnand Department of Veterans Affairs SecretaryDavid Shulkinlearned they were out of a job via a Trump tweet as did,according to one official, ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.)

“Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be leaving her position, and I would like to thank her for her service,” the presidenttweetedSunday afternoon.

He then announced that the Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Kevin McAleenan, would become her acting replacement pending Senate confirmation of a new secretary.

An hour later, Nielsentweetedher resignation letter.

“Despite out progress in reforming homeland security for a new age, I have determined that it is the right time for me to step aside. I hope that the next Secretary will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s discourse.”

Nielsenlater tweetedthat she would remain in the administration until Wednesday “to assist with an orderly transition and ensure that key DHS missions are not impacted.”

She was confirmed as the Homeland Security secretary in December 2017 and was a close ally and top aide of a former department secretary, Gen. John F. Kelly, who went on to be the White House chief of staff before exiting in December.

AsThe New York Timeslays out, she is one of a dozen-plus top Trump officialswho have been fired, quit or forced out since he took office.

The president has had multiple secretaries of state and health and human services and multiple attorneys general and EPA administrators. He has not confirmed official replacements for his secretaries of defense or the interior and now homeland security, instead opting to name temporary “acting” replacements.

“I like ‘acting.’ It gives me more flexibility. Do you understand that? I like ‘acting.’ So we have a few that are ‘acting.’ We have a great, great Cabinet,” Trumptold reporters in January.

The story behind Nielsen’s ouster is unclear less than a day after it was announced. While she said she had resigned, various insiders, speaking anonymously to the press, cast it differently.

Nielsen “brought her resignation letter with her when she met President Trump in the White House residence,” on Sunday afternoon, the political website Axios reported, citing “top sources.”

“She wasn’t intent on quitting but was prepared to. … The meeting went poorly, and Trump didn’t even let her announce her ‘resignation,’ ” according to Axios.

The Washington Post, citing “two senior administration officials,” reported that “Nielsen had no intention of quitting when she went to the meeting Sunday with the president and that she was forced to step down.”

TheTimesdescribed Nielsen’s planned meetingwith the president as a kind of clearing-the-air after he had grown increasingly upset at what he viewed as her failure to control the rate of border crossings with Mexico.

Arriving Sunday at the White House, Nielsen “came prepared with a list of things that needed to change to improve the relationship with the president,” according to theTimes.

While Nielsen has been one of the public faces of some of the administration’smost divisive and challenged policies— includingseparating migrant familieswho cross illegally into the U.S. — theTimesdescribed her position with Trump as essentially untenable.

Everyone was not convinced. Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, of Hawaii,tweeted Sunday night:

Officials with the White House and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. Nielsen did not return a call.

source: people.com