The biggest bombshells about Kristi Noem and her top aide Corey Lewandowski from the Wall Street Journal’s expose
A bombshell report has alleged that the Department of Homeland Security is in a state of “constant chaos” under the leadership of Secretary Kristi Noem and her top adviser Corey Lewandowski.
The Wall Street Journal cites sources within the department who are highly critical of Noem’s reign and paints an unflattering portrait of the secretary as a politician who has sought to “burnish her personal stardom at every turn.”
Noem has “staged a headline grabbing immigration crackdown while sidelining rivals and dissenters,” the newspaper states, noting the secretary’s penchant for posing in agency-branded flak jackets and caps and bearing guns as props “all with an eye to her style, with TV-ready hair and makeup.”
It reports that President Donald Trump has entertained calls to fire Noem and Lewandowski amid discontent about their management of the department, although he has so far refrained from doing so.
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Independent: “Mr Lewandowski serves as an advisor to the secretary. The secretary, like all previous secretaries, has various senior advisors. This department doesn’t waste time with salacious, baseless gossip – we have actual work to do keeping the American homeland and its citizens safe. Something the last administration failed to do for four years.”
A departmental spokesperson previously challenged a number of the points raised by the WSJ. Here’s a look at some of the key claims made against the secretary in its report.
It has long been rumored that the secretary and her top adviser, both of whom are married, have engaged in an extramarital affair. They have repeatedly denied the allegations and the secretary has called them a “disgusting lie.”
The WSJ nevertheless revives them and reports that “the close relationship had already made Trump and his top advisers uncomfortable,” adding that the president had rejected the idea of Lewandowski serving as Noem’s chief of staff “due to reports of a romantic relationship between the two – which he has continued to bring up, officials say.”
The newspaper reports that Noem moved into a government-owned waterfront house on a military base in Washington, D.C., provided for the head of the Coast Guard, after tabloid photos of Lewandowski “showed him going back and forth between his apartment and Noem’s across the street last year.”
A DHS spokesperson told the WSJ that Noem had moved into the house for security reasons and said she pays rent at the property.
The report also alleges a heated personal rivalry between Noem and Trump’s border czar, who was sent in to Minnesota late last month to take charge of Operation Metro Surge following public uproar over the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents. He has sent 700 agents home and is now winding it down entirely.
“Noem routinely berated staff if she saw Homan on TV and kept track of both their appearances to make sure she was on TV more than him,” the WSJ reports.
“On at least one occasion, she asked aides to ensure she drew a bigger crowd at a conference than Homan, who was speaking on a different day.”
A DHS spokesperson told the WSJ the claim was false.
