With Corey Lewandowski exiting the Department of Homeland Security, agency insiders have spilled on all the wild ways he ran his alleged paramour’s office as the “chief.”
Lewandowski, 52, has long been rumored to be romantically involved with Kristi Noem, 54, who was fired as Homeland Security secretary last week.
Both are married with kids, and Noem previously blasted the allegations as “tabloid garbage”—but sources inside the DHS revealed to the National Review that they were running the agency hand-in-hand, with Lewandowski often taking the lead as de facto chief of staff.
A DHS official told the outlet that he received a call from the White House last March, just weeks into Noem’s tenure. The administration official called to ask whether the DHS staffer had heard that Lewandowski was using his influence within the agency to grant lucrative government contracts to political allies—and whether there was any evidence to back such claims.
During her testy appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Noem responded with a flat-out “no” when asked whether Lewandowski had “a role in approving contracts” at DHS.
But ProPublica later uncovered internal DHS records showing that Lewandowski signed off on a multimillion-dollar equipment contract last summer as “chief advisor.”
“Mr. Lewandowski does NOT play a role in approving contracts,” A DHS spokesperson said in a statement to the outlet. “Mr. Lewandowski does not receive a salary or any federal government benefits. He volunteers his time to serve the American people.”
The former Trump campaign manager is categorized as a special government employee, meaning he is prohibited from working more than 130 days per year.
Agency insiders told the National Review that he often walked into the DHS building along with other staffers to avoid a paper trail of his presence, and regularly instructed aides to call people so that he could yell at them from the background—without logging phone calls in any official capacity.
Inside the building, Lewandowski was known as the “chief.”
“All written communication and all of the little minions in the front office, all the 23-year-olds who have pledged undying loyalty to Corey, would call him ‘Chief,’” a senior administration official told the Review.
Portions of Noem’s schedule obtained by the outlet showed several references to the “chief,” including in notes about high-level decisions or official engagements. One such note indicated that Noem had declined an invitation to a United Nations event “unless Chief says it is important.”
Lewandowski wasn’t just in charge of Noem’s schedule—he was present in most of her meetings too, according to the report.
“I don’t think she ever took meetings without him standing in there,” a senior administration official told the Review. “I was supposed to have a one-on-one meeting with her, and he was in there. He took meetings without her, but she never took meetings without him.”
The details on how involved Lewandowski was in Noem’s role leading DHS—a tenure that included a terrifying immigration crackdown in cities across the country and the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal agents under her leadership—come as elicit details of their alleged affair also surfaced.
Called the “worst kept secret” in Washington D.C., last month it was reported that the pair was traveling the country in a 737 MAX airliner with a private cabin at its rear.
The Wall Street Journal reported in February that Lewandowski used his unofficial power to fire a Coast Guard pilot after Noem left a blanket aboard when they had to switch planes due to maintenance issues.
The White House and the DHS did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Beast on this story.
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