Corey Lewandowski and Byron Noem: Kristi Noem's viral remark about rumored boyfriend at meeting attended by husband

Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem was straight-up asked about Corey Lewandowski and whether she had sexual relations with Lewandowski during her tenure as the DHS chief. This unpleasant exchange took place during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, which was also attended by Kristi Noem's husband Byron Noem. But Byron had to leave the meeting to catch a flight when the specific question answer came. Democratic representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (California) popped the question, to which Kristi Noem reacted angrily. “I am shocked we’re peddling tabloid garbage in this committee,” Noem responded.

Kamlager-Dove was not ready for an elusive answer and continued: "It is okay for you to be offended by the question. But it is also a real question and you should be able to answer the question clearly and without hesitation … you should be wanting to answer that question.”




After Kamlager-Dove, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, pressed Noem further. “I really think you need to say the word ‘no’ into the record so that you can clear that up,” Moskowitz said.

Noem got angry and called Moskowitz a part of the "liberal media". “You say conservative women are stupid or sluts. I am neither,” Kristi Noem said.

Who is Corey Lewandowski?

Corey Lewandowsky is Kristi Noem's long-time adviser. He was Trump's 2016 campaign manager and then became Kristi Noem's volunteer adviser when Noem was the governor of South Dakota. Both Kristi Noem and Lewandowski are married -- Kristi married Byron Noem in 1992 in South Dakota. They have three children. Byron runs an insurance company.

Lewandowski has been married to Alison Hardy since 2005 and have children.

A forthcoming book by NBC News reporter Julia Ainsley is stoking the fire of the affair rumors as she, in her book (Undue Process: The Inside Story of Trump’s Mass Deportation Program), described DHS as a dysfunctional fiefdom. The book calls the affair an open secret as they often fly around the country together in a luxury 737 with a private cabin in the back.

Going by the book, when Noem tried to install Lewandowski as her chief of staff, the White House vetoed the move as rumors about their relationship were already circulating too widely. Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and most influential immigration hawk, was personally repelled by their apparent infidelity, the book said. Lewandowski was hired as a “special government employee,” similar to Elon Musk’s arrangement as the head of DOGE. The post comes with an expiry date like Elon's but Lewandowski continued and called himself the chief adviser.