WASHINGTON — President Trump decided to remove Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from her position following a surprising moment at a House hearing on Wednesday. According to insiders and those familiar with the White House’s inner workings, her noncommittal response to a question about her alleged “sexual relations” with senior aide Corey Lewandowski was the decisive factor.
Prior to this, Trump had been growing increasingly displeased with Noem. His irritation peaked after she told senators on Tuesday that he had sanctioned $220 million in advertisements featuring her. However, her ambiguous answer during the hearing confirmed his decision to dismiss her.
“The inquiry about the affair during the hearing was the tipping point. It was intensely difficult to watch,” one insider remarked about Noem’s response, which many perceived as an acknowledgment of her affair with Lewandowski. This came just after her husband of 34 years, Bryon Noem, accompanied her to the hearing.
“The pressure had been building,” another source noted, echoing the sentiment that this incident was the last straw.
A third individual commented, “After those two hearings, the focus shifted entirely onto her and Lewandowski. There was no turning back.”
As for Lewandowski, he admitted to The Post that he was uncertain about the impact the rumored affair had on events.
“You’re asking me to speculate on things that I have no insight into,” he said when reached by phone.
Trump’s ouster of Noem — the first cabinet shakeup of his second term — came shortly after he told Reuters that she lied to Congress about his approval of advertising spending, giving the impression that that was the core reason for his decision to swap her out for Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).
Some of the ad money flowed to a company run by the husband of Noem’s then-spokeswoman.
Here’s the latest on the firing of Kristi Noem
Sources said that the ad issue was indeed a key motivation for Trump, though her poor handling of the affair query sealed her fate.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters after Noem’s termination that Trump was “mad as a murder hornet” and considering replacing her with Mullin on Tuesday night after her Senate testimony — though he didn’t do so until Thursday following her disastrous House testimony on Wednesday.
“The president, when he called me Tuesday night, the night of the hearing, when he was mad as a murder hornet, he asked me what I thought about Markwayne,” Kennedy said.
Trump was already aware of Noem’s relationship with Lewandowski, who served as his first campaign manager in 2016, and has joked about it for years — but viewed her handling of the affair question as a disaster for her already crumbling credibility.
Noem and Lewandowski began to lose influence in January when a second anti-deportation activist, Alex Pretti, was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, following the earlier shooting of Renee Good. Trump sent in the pair’s internal rival, border czar Tom Homan, to calm and wind down the local operation.
An administration official said: “Replacing Kristi was based on the culmination of her many unfortunate leadership failures including the fallout in Minnesota, the 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.
Ex-Secretary Kristi Noem’s most memorable photo ops during her tenure at DHS:
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
“Kristi’s drama sadly overshadowed and distracted from the Administration’s extremely popular immigration agenda, which will continue full force.”
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.
One source said they “don’t know who would want him.”
But a different source said they suspect that Lewandowski, whom Trump has periodically dropped then welcomed back into the fold before, eventually will find his way back into a position of power.
For his part, Lewandowski downplayed his influence at the department, saying he was merely an “unpaid volunteer” for Trump’s White House.
“I haven’t made that decision,” Lewandowski said, when asked if he’ll stay on with the Trump administration.
