Bryon Noem’s “bimbofication” second life will not be going away anytime soon—and is going to become a long-running headache for his wife’s boss.
The “busty bimbo” alter ego of Kristi Noem’s husband will be a subject of congressional probes if Democrats retake the House in the fall’s midterms as they are favored to do, says Daily Beast Executive Editor Hugh Dougherty.
“Bimbofication is not going away,” Dougherty said on The Daily Beast Podcast, adding that “Democrats are almost certainly going to win the midterms” and then issue subpoenas to Noem on day one.
“They can start demanding every bit of paper,” he said of Democrats. “They can haul people in front to ask questions—and they are making very clear that one of the big areas of questions they’re going to be asking about is, ‘What was Kristi Noem up to at the Department of Homeland Security?’”
Questions have swirled about Noem’s tenure leading the department, which included a $220 million vanity advertising campaign, questionable government contracts that some speculate were awarded to associates, and an alleged affair with her top adviser, Corey Lewandowski. Still lingering, too, are questions about her decision-making preceding two U.S. citizens being shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January.
Beyond her tumultuous leadership, Noem’s bimbo drama at home is also expected to be sharply questioned—particularly to determine whether an FBI background check missed or ignored the fact that Noem’s husband of 33 years was shelling out thousands of dollars to fuel a sexual fetish with cam girls.
Bryon’s fetish was exposed this week in a bombshell report from the Daily Mail, which detailed his cross-dressing habits and participation in the “bimbofication” lifestyle. The fetish involves dressing up as a hypersexualized Barbie doll, in which a man gives himself massive fake breasts, something Bryon appears to achieve using inflated balloons, and wears tight clothing.
The reporting has become a cause for concern among some national security experts, who believe his double life—which reportedly included him spending tens of thousands on online sex workers—could have made Kristi susceptible to blackmail.
“Bimbofication is not going away,” said Daily Beast Podcast co-host Joanna Coles. “It’s going to haunt Trump’s second term.”
The Beast’s chief creative and content officer continued, “It feels like one of those slightly silly, insignificant personal stories where someone gets humiliated and then we all move on. But in fact, it has much bigger ramifications because it shows the government, certainly the FBI, with Kash Patel not doing his job.”
While some have complained that the Bryon exposé is an invasion of the 56-year-old’s privacy, Dougherty noted that his affinity for online sexting could have compromised national security, especially when Kristi, 54, was under the same roof in South Dakota.
“When the Homeland Security secretary travels, it has to be possible to brief her on the nation’s most important secrets, and she travels with secure technology,” he said. “At the same time, we have somebody who was on a webcam on a laptop, we assume, or his mobile, talking to cam girls. That’s the sort of data information that foreign spies live to find.”
Trump has acknowledged Bryon’s cross-dressing habits, expressing shock that the Noems did not try to spin the story as a lie.
“They confirmed it?” Trump asked the tabloid by phone. “Wow, well, I feel badly for the family if that’s the case, that’s too bad.”
Bryon has denied putting U.S. national security at risk by speaking with online adult film stars, but he has not denied his bimbo lifestyle.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and DHS for comment.
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