Noem no more. The president’s week was mostly dominated by the Iran war, until he abruptly fired embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Ms. Noem became the first Cabinet secretary to get the boot in Trump’s second term. Her ouster follows her clash with lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week and questions over her handling of protests in Minneapolis, a costly TV ad contract and the purchase of a luxury jet. 

Mr. Trump designated Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma Republican, as her replacement.

The Iran war largely overshadowed his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who came to the White House to talk trade and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Mr. Trump had other plans for the meeting. He used it to publicly thank Germany for backing the Iran strikes and to lambast Spain, threatening to cut off trade for refusing to let the U.S. use its military bases to launch strikes against Tehran.

The president spent the week phoning media outlets to sell the U.S. strikes on Iran but he also pivoted to economic issues, specifically the rising cost of electricity bills.

At a White House event, Mr. Trump secured pledges from Big Tech that they’ll take steps to protect ratepayers from higher prices caused by their power-hungry data centers.

Mr. Trump also held a Medal of Honor ceremony and awarded three men — two posthumously — who fought in Afghanistan, Vietnam and World War II.

“There’s no ceremony that can be more important than this,” the president said.

Mr. Trump announced he will end his long boycott of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which he has never attended as president.

The dinner had become a platform to lampoon Mr. Trump, but this year, the president said, he’ll make the April 25 event “the greatest, hottest and most spectacular dinner of any kind, ever!”

Congress reacts to Iran. Lawmakers spent the week responding to Mr. Trump’s launch of the war against Iran. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio privately briefed lawmakers about the strikes and the justification for them. Lawmakers were split mostly along party lines on whether the U.S. should have launched the attack, and Democrats shot down the idea of Congress approving a special spending bill to bolster the nation’s ammunition supply.

Congress controls the purse strings, but has been shut out of the decision-making behind the strikes, angering some lawmakers who said Mr. Trump should have sought authorization from Congress. 

They’ll stay on the sidelines after blocking measures in both the House and the Senate that would require Mr. Trump to get their approval for further military action in Iran.

Democrats, meanwhile, continue to block funding for the Homeland Security Department, ignoring warnings from the GOP that leaving the department unfunded creates a heightened threat now that the United States is waging a war against Iran.

The party is holding out for an end to immigration raids and other big changes to Mr. Trump’s program to deport illegal immigrants. 

Across the Capitol, the House voted to kill a measure that would have forced public disclosure of alleged sexual misconduct in congressional offices.

The measure failed overwhelmingly amid concerns that making the complaints public could “chill victim cooperation and witness participation” in future investigations.

It followed more demands from lawmakers to release thousands of pages of Epstein files the Justice Department has withheld over victim privacy concerns and other issues related to the late sex trafficker’s crimes.

A House panel voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi over the matter amid the revelation that the Justice Department held back documents that included unverified allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Trump dating to the 1980s. The House panel investigating Epstein’s crimes recently grilled former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton about their association with Epstein, and it summoned a new list of witnesses to testify about their ties to the wealthy financier, including Bill Gates and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Texas turbulence. Mr. Trump announced he will soon endorse a candidate in the Texas Republican primary runoff between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Mr. Trump wants the GOP to avoid a protracted intraparty battle ahead of the May 26 runoff and said the non-endorsed candidate should drop out.

All bets are on the president endorsing Mr. Cornyn, who is seeking a fifth term and is backed by the Senate GOP’s campaign arm. Mr. Cornyn came out slightly ahead of Mr. Paxton in Tuesday’s primary, defying expectations but falling short of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Mr. Paxton offered to drop out of the race in a Thursday social media post, but said he’d end his challenge only if the Senate gets rid of the filibuster and passes a federal voter ID law, which is unlikely to happen.

The winner will face off against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, who beat U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in Tuesday’s primary after running a campaign centered on economic populism.

Another Texas runoff is also dividing the GOP.

Rep. Tony Gonzales is headed to a runoff against Republican challenger Brandon Herrera amid calls that the lawmaker resign his House seat.

Mr. Gonzales, who represents the heavily Hispanic 23rd district in the southwestern part of the state, publicly confessed Wednesday to an affair with a female employee who later committed suicide by self-immolation. The House Ethics Committee announced it is investigating the matter.

There were no surprises following North Carolina’s Senate primary. Voters picked frontrunners Michael Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, to face off against former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

Mr. Trump is knocking out the big issues such as Iran that other presidents have made worse or ignored, Michael McKenna writes.

Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota says his directive to the Energy Department to compare the environmental performance of American products vs. foreign goods is not an energy tax.

Look closely at your W-2 to see how much health care costs have risen, suggests Glenn Melnick.