Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, effectively ran the Department of Homeland Security as its “shadow secretary,” steering billions in federal spending while holding nothing more than an unpaid adviser’s title, according to a sweeping Wall Street Journal investigation published Monday night.
And a department watchdog is now weighing a criminal referral.
While inside DHS, Lewandowski allegedly pitched himself for private hire to Qatari and Emirati officials, offering to smooth visa headaches for the wealthy Gulf states, according to the report. Both declined.
Palantir’s agreed-upon $2.7 billion DHS deal sat unsigned while Lewandowski demanded a one-on-one with CEO Alex Karp, according to the report. Palantir balked, and the contract was slashed to $1 billion. Prison giant GEO Group, which snubbed Lewandowski for a lobbying gig in 2017, watched its detention market share crater from 37% to 25%, even as its facilities sat empty. House Democrats accuse him of “shaking down contractors” for kickbacks.
The report also revealed the moment Lewandowski and then-Secretary Kristi Noem, his long-rumored partner, blindsided President Donald Trump’s White House.
As Stephen Miller pushed ICE to ramp up deportations, Lewandowski and Noem jetted across the Middle East on a luxury 737 MAX, meeting Gulf leaders on trips DHS never publicized.
A representative told the Journal that Lewandowski “adamantly denies ever demanding any payment or compensation from any potential, former, or current government contractor or seeking or soliciting or entering contracts with foreign governments while volunteering his time with DHS.”
Both exited DHS after Trump ousted Noem in March and a watchdog investigation is ongoing. The Journal also revealed the text of a mug in Noem’s old office that read, “May the bridges I burn light the way.”
Lewandowski, associates said, is betting he’ll get a pardon.
The post Federal probe zeroes in on ‘shadow secretary’ who rattled Trump White House appeared first on Raw Story.
