Trump breaks silence on reviews about Kristi Noem’s relationship with prime aide days after Wall St Journal expose
President Donald Trump has addressed speculation for the first time that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is having an extramarital affair with her top aide Corey Lewandowski.
Trump was asked directly about the rumored relationship, which both Noem and Lewandowski have denied, aboard Air Force One Monday evening, whether it constituted a “bad look” for his administration, and whether Noem was likely to remain in her job much longer.
“I don’t know about that,” the president answered, “I mean, I haven’t heard that. I’ll find out about it, but I have not heard that.”
The alleged romance between Noem and Lewandowski, both of whom are married, has long been a subject of media intrigue, but the former South Dakota governor has dismissed the story as a “disgusting lie.”
The matter was revived last week by The Wall Street Journal, which published a bombshell report on Noem’s running of the DHS, alleging that the pair’s “close relationship had already made Trump and his top advisers uncomfortable” and was an open secret within the administration.
The newspaper claimed that the president had rejected the idea of Lewandowski serving as Noem’s chief of staff “due to reports of a romantic relationship between the two – which he has continued to bring up, officials say.”
It also reported that the secretary had moved into a government-owned waterfront house on a military base in Washington, D.C., intended for the head of the Coast Guard, after tabloid photos of Lewandowski “showed him going back and forth between his apartment and Noem’s across the street last year.”
A DHS spokesperson told the WSJ that Noem had moved into the house for security reasons and that she pays rent there.
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in turn, told The Independent: “Mr. Lewandowski serves as an advisor to the secretary. The secretary, like all previous secretaries, has various senior advisors.
“This department doesn’t waste time with salacious, baseless gossip – we have actual work to do keeping the American homeland and its citizens safe. Something the last administration failed to do for four years.”
The WSJ report otherwise alleged, quoting sources from within the DHS, that Noem’s department operated in a state of “constant chaos” and portrayed the secretary as a politician who has sought to “burnish her personal stardom at every turn.”
It accused her of staging “a headline grabbing immigration crackdown while sidelining rivals and dissenters… all with an eye to her style, with TV-ready hair and makeup,” also alleging she was jealous of Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, who was sent in to restore order to Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis last month, ensuring she made more TV appearances than her rival.
A DHS spokesperson challenged many of the points raised in the story, claiming the Homan line was false.
Trump’s administration has continued to back Noem, even after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota in January, both of whom the secretary accused of attempting to engage in domestic terrorism when they were killed by federal agents.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted recently that the president retains full confidence in Noem, saying: “President Trump and Secretary Noem have ensured the most secure border in our nation’s history, and our homeland is undoubtedly safer today than it was when the president took office last year.”
Source: independent.co.uk
