Kristi Noem's Rumored Lover Corey Lewandowski Investigated Over His Time with DHS

Lewandowski — who served as an unpaid adviser to Noem while she was the homeland security secretary — will not work with her at the State Department, a government spokesperson tells PEOPLE

NEED TO KNOW

• Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s aide and rumored lover Corey Lewandowski is reportedly under investigation by a federal watchdog that is scrutinizing the agency’s handling of contracts
• Lewandowski has denied wrongdoing through a spokesperson and his lawyer
• Both Noem and Lewandowski have pushed back against claims that they’re having an affair, but focus on their dynamic intensified this week after the Daily Mail reported that Noem’s husband, Bryon, allegedly told an online fetish model his wife was seeing someone else

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s adviser and rumored lover Corey Lewandowski is reportedly under investigation by a federal watchdog that's scrutinizing his interactions with companies who were looking to do business with the Department of Homeland Security.

The DHS’ Office of the Inspector General declined to confirm the existence of the probe into Lewandowski, which was first reported by CNN last week and described in greater detail by The New York Times on Thursday, April 2. A spokesperson cited “a longstanding policy neither to confirm nor to deny the existence of any specific investigation” in response to an inquiry from PEOPLE.

But the spokesperson noted that an annual audit of DHS grants and contracts awarded “through means other than full and open competition during fiscal year 2025” was underway, as is required by Congress. The audit is “currently paused,” the spokesperson said, due to the lapse in DHS funding the White House and Congress have been bickering over for weeks.

Lewandowski’s office said in a statement to PEOPLE that “to the best of his knowledge,” the longtime Republican operative has not been contacted by the inspector general’s office.

“Mr. Lewandowski has never directed any company to hire anyone,” the statement said. “Contracting decisions rest with authorized officials at DHS. When $15 billion has been saved for American taxpayers, he recognizes that entrenched interests may be resistant to the reforms which were executed.”

The claim that $15 billion was saved stems from efforts by Noem and DHS leadership to cut waste at the department and trim the agency’s bureaucracy, which they credited to a policy of having Noem personally review and approve any contract above $100,000. That policy has been subjected to much scrutiny, and was reversed by Noem's successor, Markwayne Mullin, DHS said in a statement to the Times.

This week, multiple outlets reported that Mullin had paused the purchase of warehouses that began under Noem as new agency leadership scrutinizes her spending. The warehouses are intended for the detention of migrants — an expansion of the network of prison camps and detention facilities used by the Trump administration that historians, some Democrats, and detainees have likened to “concentration camps.” 

Despite some waste-trimming initiatives during President Donald Trump's first year in office, DHS’ budget more than doubled to nearly $400 billion on Noem’s watch, in part due to the funding for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol tripling and Immigration and Customs Enforcement getting nearly eight times as much money as it had the year prior. 

Representatives at DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the inquiry from PEOPLE.

Joseph V. Cuffari, the DHS inspector general, was appointed during Trump's first term and has decades of experience working in watchdog roles for the Air Force, the Pentagon, and the Justice Department. The 40-year Air Force veteran also worked for two Republican governors in Arizona.

Noem and Lewandowski were reportedly ousted from DHS in part due to Noem’s lavish spending on an ad campaign promoting her personal image — which is under a separate investigation by Democratic lawmakers — and following combative congressional hearings where the former South Dakota governor declined to answer under oath whether she was having an extramarital affair with Lewandowski.

Both Noem and Lewandowski had denied the affair previously, dating back to at least 2021, but the allegations have persisted in the press and throughout Washington.

Focus on the dynamic between Noem and Lewandowski intensified this week after Noem’s husband, Bryon, became the subject of a exposé in the Daily Mail about his participation in online fetish forums. The outlet's investigation included a quote from an online model who alleged that Bryon told her his wife was having an affair with an adviser.

Bryon, the former DHS secretary’s high school sweetheart, admitted to the British tabloid that he participated in the explicit online communities and took photos dressed as a woman, but denied that he discussed his wife engaging in an affair.

Noem brought Lewandowski with her to DHS as an unpaid “special government employee” and reportedly gave him wide-ranging authorities over the department, central to Trump’s mass deportation and immigrant detention operations.

Noem has since been moved over to the State Department to oversee Trump’s new Western Hemisphere military alliance dubbed “The Shield of the Americas.” A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the reported inspector general probe, but told PEOPLE that Lewandowski is not expected to support Noem in her new role.

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NBC News reported last month that a private prison company seeking to do business with DHS was allegedly asked to pay Lewandowski to secure massive federal contracts. Lewandowski’s lawyer Adam Trigg vehemently denied the report at the time as “absolutely false” and said in a statement to the Times that his client “adamantly denies ever demanding any payment or compensation from any potential, former or current government contractor.”

Trigg did not immediately respond to questions from PEOPLE about the inspector general’s probe on Thursday.

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