Inside Kristi Noem’s spacious office on the second floor of the Department of Homeland Security’s headquarters, where a painting of the secretary astride a horse decorated the wall, Corey Lewandowski would hold court.
Over the last year, Ms. Noem’s top aide and confidant hosted meetings in the office without her present, grilling agency officials and issuing orders as he flexed his vast influence over President Trump’s efforts to detain and deport millions of immigrants, people with knowledge of the sessions told The New York Times.
Presiding over gatherings in the secretary’s office was just one way Mr. Lewandowski exerted power far beyond the scope of his role as unpaid adviser. While he joined the department early last year in what was supposed to be a limited, part-time role, the longtime Republican operative used his perch to build an expansive portfolio in which he had wide influence over personnel, contracts and the department’s operations on the ground, according to nearly 20 current and former administration officials, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
Mr. Lewandowski helped elevate Gregory Bovino, a midlevel U.S. Border Patrol leader, to a senior position commanding militarized deportation raids across the United States, three people familiar with Mr. Lewandowski’s actions said.
He was among the top officials alongside Ms. Noem involved in the process of approving government contracts, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The Times. He berated Immigration and Customs Enforcement leaders when their officers failed to meet daily arrest quotas set by the White House, flashing a quick temper that left officials across the department afraid that any perceived slight could cost them their jobs, according to people familiar with the episodes.
On several occasions, he is said to have ordered employees to be placed on administrative leave over what they considered trivial matters.
There were also mounting concerns among homeland security officials that Mr. Lewandowski was trying to enrich himself through his role, according to people familiar with internal discussions. Some of those complaints ultimately reached the White House, two people said.
Mr. Lewandowski’s actions have come under renewed scrutiny since Mr. Trump abruptly ousted Ms. Noem this month amid the growing unpopularity of the administration’s aggressive deportation tactics, as well as allegations that a lucrative contract benefited her associates and allies. NBC News reported Thursday that Mr. Lewandowski had demanded payments from GEO Group, a major contractor that runs private detention facilities, based on its business with the Department of Homeland Security.
“Mr. Lewandowski adamantly denies ever demanding any payment or compensation from any potential, former or current government contractor,” said Adam Trigg, a lawyer for Mr. Lewandowski, adding that “such allegations are not supported by a single piece of evidence.”
Mr. Trigg also said that Mr. Lewandowski had “no role” in reviewing or approving contracts.
He added, “We will be preparing a formal response to these reckless allegations.”
Inside the White House, the president has expressed growing anger with Mr. Lewandowski as the media focus on his activities has intensified, according to people familiar with Mr. Trump’s remarks. Mr. Lewandowski is seen as being on precarious ground with Mr. Trump, those people said, even though he is a longtime ally who has managed to retain the president’s favor through a series of political and personal scandals over the last decade.
When Ms. Noem leaves her post at the end of the month for a new role as a special envoy, Mr. Lewandowski is not expected to land another job in the administration, officials said.
In a statement, Mr. Lewandowski said: “All personnel decisions are made by the White House.”
A spokeswoman for the White House declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.
Enduring Loyalty
For Mr. Lewandowski, ascending to the upper ranks of the Department of Homeland Security represented a remarkable return to power after repeatedly being cast out of Mr. Trump’s orbit, an illustration of the rewards the president bestows for enduring loyalty.
Mr. Lewandowski served as Mr. Trump’s first manager for the 2016 campaign before being fired amid internal strife. He later angled for a job in the first Trump administration but was rebuffed. He set up a lobbying shop, spending years as an informal White House adviser. He began advising Republicans around the country, including Ms. Noem, then the governor of South Dakota, introducing her and others to Trump officials and national donors.
In 2021, while Mr. Lewandowski was running the political action committee that was expected to serve as Mr. Trump’s upcoming campaign super PAC, a donor at a G.O.P. event accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. He was ousted from his perch, and other G.O.P. officials, including Ms. Noem, said they were cutting ties with him, although he would later advise her again. (Mr. Lewandowski was initially charged with misdemeanor battery over the allegations from the donor. He did not admit wrongdoing and ultimately agreed to a plea deal with Nevada prosecutors.)
Mr. Trump brought him back once more, hiring him onto his presidential campaign in the summer of 2024 as an unpaid adviser, against the wishes of some of his top advisers. Mr. Lewandowski spent weeks in a bitter power struggle for control of the campaign and ultimately lost.
After Mr. Trump’s election, Mr. Lewandowski had hoped to become Ms. Noem’s chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, despite reports — denied by both of them — that they were involved in a romantic relationship.
Instead, he joined the department as a senior adviser to Ms. Noem, taking no salary and serving as a special government employee, a designation that allows people to work for the government “for a period not to exceed 130 days” during a one-year period, according to federal law.
While Mr. Lewandowski maintained a constant presence at D.H.S. throughout last year, he appeared to sidestep the 130-day limit. People familiar with his activities said that he rarely used his badge to enter the building, instead arriving or departing alongside Ms. Noem, who is ushered through security by her Secret Service detail.
He often passed messages through other officials instead of sending emails, some people said.
In minutes of internal department meetings, officials frequently would write “the chief” instead of his name, according to people with knowledge of the practice.
Big Business
Despite the mandate that he serve in a limited capacity, Mr. Lewandowski has had wide latitude across the department. He has attended numerous classified briefings and weighed in on contracts being approved by the agency, people familiar with his work said.
He even had access to a version of the President’s Daily Brief prepared for Ms. Noem, according to two people familiar with the matter. The summary of national intelligence is so sensitive that it goes only to a small number of high-ranking people.
Mr. Lewandowski also had regular access to Mr. Trump, speaking with him by phone frequently, according a person with knowledge of the interactions. That added to the perception among some White House and D.H.S. officials that Mr. Lewandowski was powerful and would be problematic to cross.
The reach that Ms. Noem granted Mr. Lewandowski drew intense scrutiny from congressional lawmakers, who during two days of hearings this month pressed her on a range of issues related to his role. Among the questions she fielded was whether they had a sexual relationship, a question she angrily dismissed as “tabloid garbage.”
Inside the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Lewandowski’s intense focus on contracts drew the attention of top officials.
As secretary, Ms. Noem had instituted a policy requiring her approval of all contracts over $100,000, a move the agency said was intended to reduce wasteful spending.
Some contract approvals were reviewed by Mr. Lewandowski, who signed memos greenlighting the spending alongside Ms. Noem and included his title, “chief adviser to S1,” a reference to the homeland security secretary, according to people familiar with his role and documents seen by The Times. Politico and ProPublica had earlier reported on Mr. Lewandowski’s role in the process.
The approval process slowed down critical spending, including for airport security and disaster relief, The Times previously reported. Some White House officials were furious at the slow handling of contracts, fielding complaints from local leaders about their inability to get disaster assistance.
At a congressional hearing shortly before Mr. Trump announced her removal as secretary, Ms. Noem flatly denied that Mr. Lewandowski had played a role in approving contracts.
Mr. Lewandowski was known within the department for closely scrutinizing contractors.
During meetings with other officials, Mr. Lewandowski and Ms. Noem expressed skepticism about two major companies: GEO Group and CoreCivic, competitors in the immigration detention industry, according to a person familiar with their comments. Mr. Lewandowski expressed particular objection to ICE’s reliance on GEO Group, saying it was overcharging the agency, another official said.
GEO Group did not respond to requests for comment.
CoreCivic said in a statement that it had a number of “constructive” meetings with Mr. Lewandowski and other homeland security officials. “We discussed a wide range of topics related to our services, including opportunities to further deliver cost savings,” the company said.
GEO Group and CoreCivic have dominated the immigration detention market for decades, and the two companies and their investors were anticipating enormous business in the new Trump administration. In the early months of 2025, both companies benefited from new contracts to reopen detention facilities that had been closed under previous administrations.
But in recent months, neither company has been awarded a major new detention contract, even as the administration scrambles to secure more space for a record number of detainees. Both companies say they have thousands of beds still available in closed facilities that they could reopen, but some detention contracts have gone to companies with minimal experience.
Wall Street analysts who cover the companies have expressed confusion about the strategy. In an interview, Joe Gomes, an equity analyst with Noble Capital Markets, questioned why the Department of Homeland Security was “trying to reinvent the wheel” by handing contracts to companies “with little to no experience in the space.”
‘A Sharp Cat’
Ms. Noem’s willingness to empower Mr. Lewandowski throughout the department frustrated and demoralized many officials there, who said he created a culture of fear.
At the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a part of the department that Mr. Trump has sought to drastically scale back, Mr. Lewandowski even scrutinized employees’ travel requests.
When one official asked Mr. Lewandowski on a phone call to approve a travel request to prepare for hurricane season, the official said that he responded, “What part of ‘We’re shutting FEMA down’ don’t you understand?’”
Mr. Lewandowski also put immense pressure on ICE to increase arrests of immigrants, threatening to fire officials at the agency who did not meet White House demands, according to two people.
But he found an ally in Mr. Bovino, the Border Patrol official he put in charge of immigration sweeps across the country, who told The Times that he had a close working relationship with Mr. Lewandowski. He described Mr. Lewandowski as a “sharp cat” and as someone who supported his aggressive tactics.
“He was able to help navigate things I needed. I needed a lot of things for a big operation like that,” he said. Mr. Bovino said that he and Mr. Lewandowski were “Type As.”
He noted that Mr. Lewandowski “chewed” him out a few times, and would tell him to make sure the operations were “airtight.” But he said that Mr. Lewandowski also gave him a long leash.
Mr. Bovino said Mr. Lewandowski quizzed him about his method of “consensual encounters,” in which Mr. Bovino’s agents would walk into parking lots, begin conversations with people, then ask them about their nationality and immigration status. The practice has been criticized as a veiled form of racial profiling.
“OK, you know what, have at it — good job,” he recalled Mr. Lewandowski saying in response to his explanation of the tactic.
Mr. Lewandowski would also share praise from the top, regularly telling Mr. Bovino that Mr. Trump was happy with his work on the ground.
“I found him to be one effective leader,” Mr. Bovino said.
Mr. Lewandowski, however, repeatedly clashed with Tom Homan, the White House border czar, according to people familiar with their interactions.
Before joining the second Trump administration, Mr. Homan had worked for companies seeking immigration-related contracts, including GEO Group. He did not respond to a request for comment.
After federal agents killed two U.S. citizens during deportation operations in Minneapolis in January, Mr. Homan took a more prominent role leading the enforcement campaign, replacing Mr. Bovino.
He is known to favor less confrontational tactics than both Mr. Lewandowski and Mr. Bovino, who now plans to retire.
Maxine Joselow and Christopher Flavelle contributed reporting. Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
Hamed Aleaziz covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy for The Times.
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