Noem’s Response to Lewandowski Question Reportedly the ‘Final Straw’ for Trump
“The question about the affair at the [House] hearing was actually the final straw. It was f—ing brutal,” one source said.
Allegations of an affair between former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski first surfaced in September 2021, when the conservative outlet American Greatness reported claims from unnamed sources of a “months-long affair” between the two. People magazine picked up the story two days later. However, after Noem dismissed the rumors as “disgusting lies,” the controversy appeared to fade.
But the allegations resurfaced in 2023, when the New York Post and the Daily Mail reported claims from sources that the two had a longer-running relationship and had engaged in public displays of affection at political events.
Although the claims were never proven, I was still somewhat surprised when President Donald Trump nominated Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security, a role that required Senate confirmation. I was even more surprised when Noem later hired Lewandowski as a top aide.
While she accomplished a great deal during her tenure as DHS chief, she faced criticism along the way for her heavy-handed leadership style and what some described as diva-like behavior. There were also rumors about her feuds with border czar Tom Homan and others within the agency.
But calls for her ouster began to intensify after she publicly labeled Alex Pretti — the armed anti-ICE agitator shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis in January — a domestic terrorist before any investigation into the incident had taken place.
Noem’s testimony before Congress this week ultimately led to her swift termination. Sources “inside and close to the White House” told the New York Post what finally prompted Trump to pull the trigger.
Trump was — as Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) put it — “as mad as a murder hornet” after Noem told senators Tuesday that she had the president’s approval to spend $220 million on ads featuring herself.
This was the moment Kristi Noem basically lost her job as DHS Secretary earlier this week🚨:
She testified that President Trump personally approved the $220 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign (featuring her prominently, thanking him for "securing the border" and urging… pic.twitter.com/GYJ6DyVEZL
— Officer Lew (@officer_Lew) March 5, 2026
Perhaps you’ve seen the ad. It features Noem on horseback with Mount Rushmore in the background. Noem narrates the ad saying, “You cross the border illegally, we’ll find you. Break our laws, we’ll punish you. You harm American citizens, there will be consequences. But if you come here the right way, your American dream can be as big as these endless skies. From President Trump and me: Welcome home.”
Kristi Noem is out at DHS. Here's a TV commercial of her on a horse, filmed five months ago at Mount Rushmore, for an ad campaign that cost more than $200 million. Someone could have done this same ad with AI for less than $500. Most of it probably went into distribution… But… pic.twitter.com/ZnWWBNuemc
— Brand (@Brand) March 6, 2026
But according to sources, the real “final straw” came when she deflected questions from House lawmakers on Wednesday about her alleged affair with Lewandowski.
The sources said Noem’s lie about the ad campaign was “a key motivation for Trump,” but “her poor handling of the affair query removed any doubt.”
“The question about the affair at the [House] hearing was actually the final straw. It was f—ing brutal,” one source said, adding that it was “widely seen as an admission that she was sleeping with her subordinate.”
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) asked her, “Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?”
“I am shocked that we’re going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today,” Noem replied. “What I would tell you is that he is a special government employee who works for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government.”
Other lawmakers asked the same question and pushed Noem for “a yes-or-no response.” She refused to provide one.
An exasperated Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told Noem, “I really think you need to say the word ‘no’ into the record so that you can clear that up.”
A second source agreed that her refusal to answer the affair question “was the last nail in the secretary’s coffin.”
“There was just no going back with the two hearings. It all became about her and him,” an additional source said.
It should be noted that Noem’s husband, Bryon Noem, was seated behind her during the hearing.
BREAKING: Kristi Noem REFUSES to deny sordid Lewandowski affair in brutal House hearing — with her husband sitting humiliated right behind her. pic.twitter.com/gjnEcOyoOy
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had a very simple opportunity in Congress on Thursday.
Just say one…
— Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) March 5, 2026
The Post reached Lewandowski by phone on Thursday. They reported, “he wasn’t sure what role the alleged affair played.” He told them, “You’re asking me to speculate on things that I have no insight into.”
Trump almost certainly knew the rumors of Noem’s affair with Lewandowski had been swirling for years when he chose her. But in Trump’s political calculus, loyalty, television presence, and a willingness to aggressively champion his agenda often matter more than whispered scandals. For a while, those qualities made Noem a useful ally and a prominent face of the administration. In the end, however, the controversies that once seemed manageable became too big to ignore.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
I’d do her… 🙂
(but then I always wake up) 🙂
The problem is that she has taken on a bit of The Influencer Look.
“$220 million on ads featuring herself.”
At what point does it seem wise to manipulate federal contracts? No one in Noem’s inner orbit warned her that it was immoral and illegal to do so? Her crew simply went along with the sham? And now they’re all jobless? Lets hope they’re all fired.
Noem is a high functioning narcissistIc idiot. And the reactions?
Aww she’s hawt!
Yea she is hawt! LOL. The seriousness we saw action at DHS. Worth every cent if there was actual success.
Not sure about the effectiveness about the ad campaign, but I guess it is getting a lot of traction. Probably gotten 50 Million views in the Demorat world now that it is such a controversial issue.
Nice talking point about manipulating fed contracts. She probably cleared a good abuses at DHS in the billions. Drop in the bucket of the DHS scams for the past 15 years. Cry me a river. Sorry I am not getting emotional over this. Noem was bad optics for Trump, time to change the game. Smart move.
She has been the best border czar we ‘ve ever had!
I don’t know if Homan ever had that title , he’d be #1
But she did her job
Personally, I don’t care who she sleeps with and $200 million in ads?
A drop a drop
Let’s put that up against billons or Trillions of fraud
This is ridiculous and I think Trump chose poorly to do this for her
His loyalty is in big ?
More than disappointed
Reposting from Occupy Democrats? Really? They are insane, lying sacks of fertilizer.
Very strange to see unhinged communist propaganda linked here unironically.
^^^this^^^
The source is shady, but it is really just a link to Jared Moskowitz doing his shtick, which was a pretty good performance in the genre of Argumentative Grandstanding Jackass. The one that really sticks in my craw is the “Brand” link claiming that “someone could have done this same ad with AI for less than $500.” The $200 million was not the production cost (which would be high for a feature-length Hollywood film; I have read the actual cost was around $350,000). It was mostly for ad buys and any $500 AI slop would have faced the same distribution costs. I don’t consider that the money was well spent, but this is a dishonest and moronic statement.
To be honest, everybody in government service should be able to answer “Are you boinking anybody on the staff?” with a solid no and an optional bit of profanity as an adjective before turning the question around on the questioner and asking them the same question.
Can people in a relationship not work in offices that sometimes cross paths? They weren’t on the same staffs from my understanding but had professional interactions and transactions, which are probably more common than you think in the government. This just happens to be another high profile gotcha attempt for Dems. It actually has zero to do with why she is there anyways.
My issue is not so much the existence of a relationship with a co-worker, but in hiring someone you are in a relationship with. It reeks of conflict of interest and unethical behavior. Even in the Democratic People’s Republic of New York’s civil service you can’t supervise someone you’re in a relationship with. At the very least a lateral transfer of one party or another is required.
There are so many of that do. Over the years it seems that the figure runs to ~90%.
More Dems than Republicans, BTW.
But was the relationship still happening by 2025?!
Not if you are that person’s supervisor. Noem was the top dog in the building. Any affair / sexual relationship is totally inappropriate and wrong. That’s classic sexual harassment no matter what.
The New York Post says this:
Noem clashed with several officials inside DHS, including the acting heads of ICE and FEMA. Several senior staff — longtime government employees with years of experience — fled the department under her tenure, citing her management policies.
She also had a contentious relationship with Homan as the two feuded on the best approach to tackle the country’s illegal immigration problem and deportation operation.
. . . .
Lewandowksi, who led a reign of terror at DHS while serving as Noem’s de facto chief of staff, despite being an unpaid special government employee, is now likely out of a job at DHS.
source: https://nypost.com/2026/03/05/us-news/noems-answer-on-sexual-relations-with-lewandowski-was-final-straw-for-trump-sources-say/
Being the “de facto chief of staff” is more than just “sometimes cross[ing] paths.”
Therefore, you have the management style, the inability to get along with other Cabinet leaders, the ad issue, the affair, and her handling of the questions concerning the affair led to her downfall.
The American people elected Trump in great part because of the illegal immigration issue.
Because of all those problems with Noem, the issues she was having obscured or at least took the eyes off of the immigration issue. She became and was a distraction and had to go.
She may be the embodiment of the Peter principle.
That’s a bit of stretching by the fine journalist at the NYT.
“unpaid employee” = volunteer
“de-facto chief of staff” = means he did not actually hold the title chief of staff. Best I can tell his actual title was “unpaid special adviser” and SGE (special government employee).
If he was unpaid then there was no possibility of nepotism, so what’s the problem? If they’d been married to each other no one could have had any objection if he was one of her top advisers. Any official is entitled to take unpaid advice from his/her spouse and/or partner. So even if the affair was still going, what’s the issue?
Also, was the affair still going in 2025?! Because anything that happened in 2021 is completely irrelevant and none of anyone’s business.
Yeah I’m not sure what the big deal of an affair is in the current era. Seems awfully mild.
The ad shouldn’t feature her because she’s not the messenger, Trump is. But the message is right IMO. It should either include Trump, Vance, or a neutral actor. It’s a mistake for her to front run that.
Trump is prominently featured in many if not all ads.
It wasn’t just an affair. It was an affair with a person she brought into her Agency and then reportedly handed over de facto power/authority to them. If she was carrying on with some Chippendales dancer that’s still not great but its another issue. It goes to judgement and reinforces claims of arrogance/big ego that the AD campaign (shot IMO as a long form TikTok look at me style) brought. Then there’s the rumored clashes behind the scenes and the PR disaster she created about the shooting. It all seems to run in the same vein of ‘I’m special/untouchable and/or look at me’.
There are a whole bunch of people who think that marital fidelity is a big thing. Even in this day and age. Especially amongst those in leadership positions. A lot of people still want their leaders to be people they can, if not admire, at least look up to.
Yes, but in the Trump administration?! If Trump’s lifelong career of adultery is not an issue, how can someone in his administration be held to such a different standard?
I am old fashioned.
I think anyone who stands up in front of God and the universe and pledges fidelity to another cannot be trusted in matters that are not as important.
If you are willing to violate your marriage oath, you’ll violate any oath.
That goes for Noem, Trump, Clinton, Biden, JFK, and anyone else.
waittttt
if this:
The question about the affair at the [House] hearing was actually the final straw. It was f—ing brutal,” one source said, adding that it was “widely seen as an admission that she was sleeping with her subordinate.”
was the real reason ( I would more buy into her saying djt approved money that he didnt,,if he didnt)
then djt would be allowing the people magazine dnc hollywood scum have the ability to control him with outlandish ( or true) rumors
if she is sleeping with anyone that she isnt suppose to be ok…then fire her based on that
but per lefty wing dnc rumors,,,no matter how many sources say she is
is she sleeping with a sub?
dont know
but I do know that lefty is running us into the ground faster than any irainian missile has
Sidebar
Zelenskyyyy’s bagmen:
“According to Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV), on March 5 seven Ukrainian nationals — including a former Ukrainian intelligence general — and two armored cash-transport vehicles were detained, carrying $40 million, €35 million and 9 kg of gold from Austria to Ukraine.”
Cindy McCain still collects John’s vig.
The ad… whoa. That was a mistake. There was no reason for her to be anything other than a voice and maybe an image at the end. As for the affair? I really don’t care. Everyone is screwing everyone in DC and they’re all screwing us.
Ad content is good. It encourages illegal aliens to self deport, and to respect immigration law. The issue was she circumvented the traditional bid process for the ads, then claimed trump approved of the process. Maybe she thinks trump gave her verbal OK in meeting? But trump not backing her up there.
Illegal aliens don’t care about those ads. They’re here to take what they can as long as they can.
I don’t disagree with that.
The primary purposes of the ads very well might have been PR stunt to highlite campaign pledge of securing the border and promises made/promises kept. Not unlike “alligator alcatraz”. But two million self deportations under Kristi’s tenure, she should get some credit. I wouldn’t mind if mullin does some ads, with trump approval.
We don’t need to make a $2M ad. Just deport the illegal aliens!
They have been actively deporting illegal aliens by taking them into custody in record numbers. They never stopped doing that.
In addition to that it has also been official government police to encourage self deportation, and that is what the ads were about. 2 million illegal aliens have self deported under Kristi’s tenure. If the ads cost $220M, and 2 million illegal aliens have self deported, that is cost $110 per illegal alien that self deported. That would be much cheaper than actually taking them into custody. Would they have self deported anyway just because they had better business back in their home country? Nobody knows.
I have followed Kristi ever since she was a US Representative. Unfortunately Kristi has made several unforced errors of judgment over the years and they all have a common theme of her ego getting in the way of common sense. She’s done politically and I find it interesting Trump just didn’t fully fire her and send her on her way. He does reward loyalty and hopefully she’s learned a lesson, but from what she’s exhibited in the past, I doubt it.
She did an excellent job as Homeland Security
I guess the. bros couldn’t take a strong woman
She can now apply her talents in Latin America in her new job as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.
“He does reward loyalty…”
Which makes it all the more strange that he didn’t back Elise Stefanik for NY governor. She is a superstar and would have taken Hochul apart piece by piece. And how she would have dealt with Mamdani is the stuff of fantasies.
Trump screwed the pooch on this one.
I know just weird
Didn’t Rep Stefanik end her candidacy after a few weeks, deciding not to pursue the Governorship or seek re-election in the HoR?
correct
she cited family reasons and it was a true loss for america that she dropped out
I’m sorry, when did Occupy Democrats become a reliable source?
Surely there’s some supermarket tabloid you could have cited in it’s stead.
Kristi Noem has pissed off the gopE and the gaggle of former leftists who have somehow become the pundits of the right.
She’s being fired for being mean to a domestic terror larper.
For being mean to the left.
And the ad is great.
It tells a truth we should emblazon on all our official announcements–
You can be our friend and hang with us.
You can be indifferent and leave us the hell alone.
Or you can be dead.
There are no other options.
Wait. Noem got grilled about her mattress aerobics with a sidepiece on her staff by the same people who just voted yesterday to coverup the sexual abuse crimes against their staff who are then paid hush money funded by our taxes??
Did I distill that correctly?
Then, to make it more infuriating, Noem’s boss, Mr. Affair himself, who also paid hush money to a sidepiece, used this as a pretext to ‘fire’ Noem – an actually pretty good DHSS; a little barbie doll show boaty with lousy trigger etiquette, at times, but she did a good job.
This better be upside down underwater 4-D chess to distract the backstabbers and trolls, or this administration is going to self-destruct before 2028…
Got fired because she circumvented the traditional bid process for the ads, not the content of the ads. The ads are good, still out there on internet for public to view. She talks up trump and makes him sound good. in ads.
Kristi did great job securing the border, or maybe homan shares credit there.
The ads are self promoting. They’re showcasing her… and by the way, go home if you’re an illegal alien.
I don’t think the two have to be mutually exclusive. That’s not what got her fired.
They made numerous ads and there wasn’t much controversy. It was just considered soft propaganda to counter the negative media spin of the kamala friendly media.
What got her fired was she steered the business of the production of ads on the basis of personal relationship, instead of putting it out for competitive bids. Then she tried to suggest that trump approved of that, when trump had not.
We don’t need to make a $2M ad. Just deport the illegal aliens!
If the party of Conservatives wants to be taken seriously we shouldn’t have folks in important/prominent positions because “… I’d do her … :-)”. Being
fuckableborderline slutty and having an affair with another married politico isn’t a qualification for anything other than what it is. Just because “it’s acceptable behavior these days” doesn’t mean we should lower the standards for the people we chose to represent us in serious matters. Be better than that.I thought she was doing a good job, glad not my call
IMO, can’t have a Cabinet Sec refusing to give an emphatic NO when questioned about whether she’s carrying on a sexual relationship with their subordinate, especially when that Cabinet Sec is married. No banging the help, no hiring your paramour like Fanny Willis.
I don’t care about her alleged affair as much as I care about her helping to push the Real ID nonsense. That crap sets a dangerous precedent.
Looking forward to Mullin as new DHS boss.
He is real native american, member of tribal nation from Oklahoma.
He can shout down leftists who always claim nobody is illegal on stolen land.
I think Warren is more native than Mullin. Who cares.
Huh? Mullin is an actual registered member of the tribe, which means he can prove his descent from someone on the original tribal roll.
Probably won’t change any votes. But it still matters in handful of states like: OK, NM, AZ, ND, SD, AK, HI.
the armed anti-ICE agitator shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis in January — a domestic terrorist before any investigation into the incident had taken place.
Well is it true. Was she a domestic terrorist. Yea. What is the problem? They know what is going on in the background. Why not just tell it like it really is. We know zip about what was known. Showmanship at its best.
The reference is to Pretti.
Pretti was not a terrorist, or at least there’s no indication that he was one. He was an agitator, for sure. He was there to cause trouble. But there’s no evidence at all that he had any intention of harming ICE agents, and that is what Noem stupidly claimed.
The shooting was probably an honest mistake, but it’s unlikely that any agent’s life was actually in any danger.
It sounded like she was prejudicing the outcome of the investigation into the shootings of pretti and good? But she could have walked that back and apologized for speaking off the cuff, and made a statement for the official record the those comments should be disregarded for any investigation. It was easily correctable.
she was causing “dissent” for the 2026 mid terms
which I believe would have landed way way way down on the list of things leftist beatch about
About a year ago I said that Noem’s open adultery should disqualify her from any position of responsibility in government. Also, she spoke unprofessionally during her press conference after Renee Good was shot. Noem stated, unnecessarily, that the agent had previously been dragged by an illegal alien’s car. Noem’s statement enabled the Good shooter to be identified and doxxed. Noem should have just said that the shooting was being investigated.
In the Trump administration?! Mote, beam.
Trump’s past adulterous behavior doesn’t preclude his administration from supporting a higher standard. Also, there is no evidence of Trump committing adultery since he was elected. Furthermore, Noem’s behavior indicates a character flaw which I think should disqualify her from being hired for a high position.
And is there evidence of Noem committing adultery since she was appointed? All I’m hearing about is something that supposedly happened five years ago.
It was an improper question and should have been ruled out of order. She should never have been put in the position of having to address it. That’s the committee chairman’s fault.
Remember that perjury requires telling a material lie under oath. An immaterial lie is not perjury, That’s why it was important in Clinton’s case that the judge had ruled the question material, and had ordered him to answer it. And even so, his defenders claimed that the judge was wrong, the question wasn’t material, and so his lie was not perjury. But without that ruling he would have been entitled to lie.
Even if it were not true, she should have refused to answer on principle, because if such questions are allowed then what happens the next time someone is asked it, and in that case it’s true? Better to have a policy of never answering such questions, ever.
When was this affair supposed to have happened? In 2021 neither Noem nor Lewandowsky were in government employment, nor was either one working for the other. So why should they not have had an affair? How would that be anyone’s business but their spouses?
That four years later she took him on as an unpaid advisor shouldn’t even be an issue if the affair was still happening, but it certainly shouldn’t be an issue if it was over!
In any case, if she really did lie about Trump approving the ad spending, then that would be a good reason for him to get rid of her.
Again, it comes down to sex. Who cares? How many of them sitting in judgment are themselves “guilty” of similar? Disgusting that she was even asked.
Agreed
Sexual relationships between two unmarried, consenting adults is ‘just sex’ but the same definitely isn’t true when one or both participants are married. Similarly the timing is important. If it happened a decade or more ago and the person has repented and not strayed since and/or it occurred before entering a career in public offices then I’d agree it may be an irrelevant question. IMO, adultery is a dishonest betrayal not just of a Spouse but the children of that marriage (if any), the religious sect that performed the ceremony (if any), the official witnesses and the unofficial witnesses attending the ceremony. Then there’s the little problem of vows made, ‘forsaking all others’ and invoking the Creator’s blessing in return for adherence to this vows. Personally I’d call for the Spouse who betrayed their vows to be on the hook to repay the taxpayers every marital related tax deduction or credit received in that marriage during any year they strayed from their vows as a form of fraud….but I’m old fashioned and believe that marriage is a very serious and solemn lifelong commitment to duty not to be entered into lightly nor to be casually tossed aside as another thing our society seems to have denigrated into with it’s disposable culture.
Do I detect a FAFO variant at play here…?
The Hill has more info about this:
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/5769663-noem-trump-ad-campaign-dispute/
Noem claims Trump gave her verbal OK in meeting, which trump does not recall. She circumvented the normal bidding process for the ads because of “DHS emergency”.
She could have protected her position by getting 3 bids from 3 companies, selected the 1 company that she wanted to work with, and then submitted to trump in writing for rubber stamp approval.
There were 51 ad spots including radio. Its not about 1 ad with her riding horse.