“ICE Barbie” Kristi Noem’s alleged lover Corey Lewandowski has spoken out on President Donald Trump’s decision to oust her as the homeland security secretary.
Lewandowski, 52, a top aide to Noem, was cornered on why Trump unceremoniously ousted the DHS secretary, 54, in a phone interview with the New York Post on Thursday.
“You’re asking me to speculate on things that I have no insight into,” said Lewandowski, whose rumored affair with Noem has been described as the “worst-kept secret in Washington, D.C.”
The manager of Trump’s 2016 campaign added, “I would never try and assume to get in the mind of President Trump.”
“I think he has his reasons for everything he does, and we have seen enormous success from his leadership at the White House,” he told the outlet.
Lewandowski, who is expected to exit the DHS with Noem at the end of March, according to the Daily Mail, downplayed his influence at the DHS, calling himself an “unpaid volunteer” for Trump’s White House.
But according to reports, Lewandowski operated as Noem’s de facto chief of staff—jetting around the country in a luxury jet, approving multibillion-dollar contracts, attending classified briefings, and terminating government workers—despite being classified as a temporary government employee.
A former senior DHS official who worked directly under Noem told the Mail that Lewandowski was “pulling the strings behind the scenes” and called him “vindictive.”
“He was willing to bend the rules to do whatever he needed to make himself and Noem look good,’ the former official said.
Lewandowski was asked on Thursday whether he would continue working at the Trump administration. “I haven’t made that decision,” he told the Post.
While Lewandowski may not want to speculate on what cost his rumored lover her job, there are plenty of possibilities—from Noem’s disastrous immigration crackdown in Minnesota to her alleged love affair with Lewandowski himself. Both Lewandowski and Noem are married to other people.
But it appears the final straw was Noem’s hearing before the Senate on Tuesday, where she insisted under oath that Trump had approved of her $220 million vanity ad campaign in advance.
Trump was enraged by Noem’s testimony, according to National Review, and on Thursday he phoned into Reuters to throw the outgoing Cabinet member under the bus, saying, “I never knew anything about it.”
Shortly afterwards, Trump announced on Truth Social that Noem would be replaced by MAGA Senator Markwayne Mullin.
“It was only a matter of time,” one DHS insider told the Daily Beast.
In his interview, Lewandowski gave a nod to the Oklahoma senator, saying, “I’m happy for Markwayne Mullen.”
