Insiders have revealed that Kristi Noem’s top aide and alleged paramour privately bragged about having the power to do “whatever” he wants because he believes President Donald Trump would pardon him.
Corey Lewandowski, 52, has made comments about wielding great power in his role at the Department of Homeland Security, sources told the New York Post in the wake of his fall from the ever-embattled agency, along with the cosplay-loving secretary.
“I’m not worried. I do whatever the f–k I want. DJT will pardon me,” one of the Post’s sources quoted Lewandowski as saying last year. The remark was made during a discussion about official actions, according to the outlet.
Another source told the Post that Lewandowski “was telling people he was going to get [a] pardon so he didn’t have to worry.” Four other sources told the paper that they didn’t hear him make the remark, though it sounded like something he would say based on their experiences with him.
Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager, denied ever making those statements.
“Those words never came from me. And anyone who says that is grossly dishonest,” he told the Daily Beast on Wednesday.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
Though Lewandowski is limited to working only 130 days per year due to his designation as a special government employee, it’s been widely reported that he ran DHS hand in hand with Noem, 54. Agency insiders previously told National Review that Lewandowski was known as the “chief,” overseeing Noem’s schedule and meetings.
Lewandowski and Noem are both married with kids, but their alleged affair has been described as the “worst-kept secret in D.C.” Noem previously blasted the rumors as “tabloid garbage,” while Lewandowski told the Beast on Tuesday that he has denied the allegations “10,000 times.”
The powerful aide’s remarks about a potential Trump pardon resurfaced as NBC News reported that the 79-year-old president has been asking around about Lewandowski’s involvement in a $220 million ad campaign featuring Noem, which was said to be the “last straw” leading to her termination last week.
Sources told NBC News that Trump has been asking aides in recent days about whether Lewandowski personally profited from the campaign, which featured Noem riding a horse and donning a cowboy hat as she threatened viewers against crossing the border illegally.
Lewandowski previously told the Beast that he has not “made one penny, not a single cent from anybody involved with the ad campaign.” He also told NBC that he spoke with Trump last week, just days before Noem was fired, and the president didn’t bring up the ads or contracts with him.
“Since I’ve known the guy for 11 years, I think it’s fair to say if he had a concern about something I was doing, he would raise it,” he said of Trump.
