Listen to this article with a free account
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has criticized aides in recent days over whether his longtime adviser, Corey Lewandowski, personally profited from a $220 million federal budget. advertising campaign featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired last week, according to three people familiar with her conversations.
“He mentioned the ads several times,” a senior White House official said, referring to Trump’s questions about Lewandowski’s role in the advertising deal.
The ads were the focus of repeated questioning from lawmakers during two contentious hearings on Capitol Hill last week that led in part to Trump’s decision. decision to remove Noem from the head of the agency and reassign she has the role of special envoy to the new “Shield of the Americas”.
Asset told NBC News that he “wasn’t thrilled” when Noem testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he approved her expensive ad campaign. Contradicting Noem, he said he “knew nothing about it” at the time.
Behind the scenes, he became suspicious of Lewandowski’s role in awarding government contracts, according to the three people familiar with his conversations.
Lewandowski has been a “special government employee” at DHS for over a year, functioning as Noem’s de facto chief of staff. And DHS officials and lobbyists say he has had outsized influence in awarding federal contracts.
Donald Trump speaks with Lewandowski during a campaign rally on October 23, 2023 in Derry, New HampshireJabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images fileIn an interview with NBC News on Monday, Lewandowski categorically denied making money from DHS contracts.
Asked if he had ever received “any money from any of the contracts” he signed, Lewandowski told NBC News in an interview, “zero, not a cent.”
The White House declined to comment on Lewandowski’s claims.
The ad campaign, which included footage of Noem on horseback discussing the American dream and speaking harshly about the crackdown on undocumented immigrants, caught Trump’s attention, and two of the people familiar with his conversations said he had discussed it several times with his advisers. In one instance, he told his advisers last week, “Corey kissed on that one,” according to another senior White House official.
Lewandowski told NBC News that he spoke with Trump on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week — the three days before Noem’s firing — and that the president did not discuss the ads or contracts with him. He also said it was his own decision to leave DHS with Noem on March 31 and that he had not made a decision on it.
“Having known this guy for 11 years, I think it’s fair to say that if he had concerns about something I was doing, he would speak up about it,” Lewandowski said of Trump in the interview.
Lewandowski, a special adviser at DHS, listens last week at the inaugural Americas Anti-Cartel Conference at U.S. Southern Command headquarters. Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesLewandowski was the first manager of Trump’s first campaign, and the two men remained personally close — even after Trump pushed him out of his 2024 campaign after Lewandowski had an altercation with Susie Wiles, his campaign manager and now White House chief of staff.
While Trump constantly praises Noem for helping cut the U.S.-Mexico border, his growing frustration with her handling of public relations has been felt for weeks.
In February, he replaced the team overseeing DHS’ Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens. Since then, Noem has had to fend off rumors about her. acquisition of a luxury jethis relationship with agencies within his department and stories on contracting issues at DHS.
The ad campaign has also become a priority for Democratic lawmakers, two of whom have launched an investigation into three companies that won DHS contracts to produce the ads: Safe America Media, Strategy Group and People Who Think.
Kristi Noem participates in a sound check as Lewandowski looks on ahead of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 14, 2024.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty ImagesIn letters to the companies, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Safe America Media signed a $143 million no-bid contract with DHS and subcontracted part of it to Strategy Group. They also said People Who Think signed a $77 million no-bid deal with the agency.
The Strategy Group is led by Ben Yoho, the husband of former DHS spokesperson Tricia McGlaughlin.
Welch and Blumenthal wrote that their concerns stemmed from news reports, including a November ProPublica article detailing links between advertising contracts and a company with ties to Noem. They asked the three companies to provide documents about their agreements with DHS, which companies they contracted with and whether they had any agreements with Lewandowski.