Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem dodging questions about her alleged affair with her subordinate Corey Lewandowski was reportedly the “final straw“ for President Donald Trump, who fired her on Thursday.
Noem’s fate was sealed after she testified before the House Judiciary Committee on the oversight of the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday and Wednesday, sources inside the White House told the New York Post.
Notably during the grilling, Democratic Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove asked Noem directly on Wednesday about her links to Lewandowski. Calling him “unqualified” for his current position as Noem’s “top official,” Kamlager-Dove directly addressed the Republican, “Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?”
Noem strategically dodged the question, stating she was “shocked we’re going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today.” Kamlager-Dove pointed out, “If you or any federal official is sleeping with their subordinate… you should be wanting to answer that question.”
The Post report, which quotes sources inside and close to the White House, said Noem dodging what has been called the “worst kept secret” in Washington saw the 79-year-old finally move in for the kill.
“The question about the affair at the hearing was actually the final straw. It was f—ing brutal,” one source said.
Another source confirmed the final straw theory, claiming that problems “kept mounting up,” while a third source told the Post that “there was just no going back with the two hearings. It all became about her and him.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump married Ivana Zelnickova in 1977, before divorcing in 1990. His marriage to Marla Maples lasted from 1993 to 1999, before tying the knot with Melania Knauss in 2005.
The president’s first marriage to Ivana came to an abrupt end in 1989 after she learned of her husband’s affair with model Maples.
Ivana met Maples, who Trump went on to marry in 1993, during a trip to Aspen. “This young blonde woman approached me out of the blue and said ‘I’m Marla and I love your husband. Do you?’” Ivana recalled. “I said ‘Get lost. I love my husband.’ It was unladylike but I was in shock.”
The president’s marital fidelity was also questioned when adult actress Stormy Daniels claimed she had sexual relations with Trump in July 2006, four months after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Barron.
While Trump vehemently denied the liaison happened, he was found guilty of all 34 counts in the hush money trial in 2024. He appealed the conviction last September.
Trump announced Noem had lost her job via Truth Social, saying she had “served us well.” Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin will take her role at the end of the month, while Noem is being shunted into a mysterious position called the “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.”
After Noem was grilled by Kamlager-Dove, Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz also attempted to get a direct answer from Noem on Wednesday.
“I really think you need to say the word ‘no’ into the record so that you can clear that up,” he said, with Noem stating the affair was “something I that I refuted for years, and I continue to do that.”
Noem’s husband of 34 years, insurance agent Bryon Noem, awkwardly joined her at the committee meeting this week as she was asked about the alleged affair with Lewandowski, who is also married.
On Tuesday, Noem was also embarrassed when Trump loyalist, Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, took her to task over the $220 million DHS advertising campaign in which she was the star.
Kennedy said the outlay of tax payer funds had been effective in boosting “your name recognition.”
Noem claimed Trump had approved the spend, prompting Kennedy to state it put the president in “a terribly awkward spot.”
“I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth,” Kennedy said. “It’s just hard for me to believe, knowing the president as I do, that you said, ‘Mr. President, here’s some ads I cut, and I’m going to spend $220 million running them,’ that he would have agreed to that.”
Trump later confirmed Noem had not been truthful, telling Reuters of the spend “I never knew anything about it.“
The Post’s source said that while Noem’s claims about the $220 million ad spend was “a key motivation” for Trump to remove her from her DHS role, “the poor handling of the affair query” removed any doubt.
Speaking on CNN on Thursday evening, Anderson Cooper referenced Noem’s starring role in the $220 million ads as the “final straw or a final straw for President Trump, there were plenty of other straws already in any case.”
Anderson said Noem’s vague new role “is a downgrade from running an agency of a quarter million men and women charged with protecting Americans from security threats at home, especially with the country at war.”
Fox News’ Peter Doocy also quoted a Trump administration source discussing Noem’s termination, noting “it was time.”
“Replacing Kristi was based on the culmination of her many unfortunate leadership mishaps including the fallout in Minnesota, the $200 million dollars ad campaign, the allegations of infidelity, the mismanagement of her staff, and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE,” the source said.
They said Noem’s “drama” overshadowed from the administration’s commitment to the divisive ICE raids “which will continue full force.”
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