Most Shocking Revelations From The Wall Street Journal's Kristi Noem-Corey Lewandowski Bombshell Exposé

Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski's rumored affair has taken flight — quite literally.

In a bombshell exposé published by The Wall Street Journal on February 12, people with knowledge of the situation said the Secretary of Homeland Security and her alleged paramour have been traveling using the department's 737 MAX airliner.

The luxury jet, which is leased by the Department of Homeland Security, is actually meant for "high-profile deportations." The department is expected to acquire the "big, beautiful jet" for about $70 million, which is roughly twice the total cost of the seven other deportation planes the DHS plans to buy, according to WSJ.

Ever since Noem and Lewandowski took charge, they allegedly reshaped leadership and initiated firing or demoting about 80 percent of senior career leaders in the field.

On one occasion, Noem "had to switch planes after a maintenance issue was discovered, but her blanket wasn't moved to the second plane." She attempted to fire the Coast Guard pilot, though he was said to have been reinstated after Noem and her team realized no alternate pilot was available to fly them home.

Another incident involved Lewandowski pushing to be issued a law-enforcement badge and a federally issued gun despite not being a trained officer.

"The administration was preparing to bring on Tom Feeley, a former top ICE official in New York, as its new director when Lewandowski asked Feeley if he would be willing to issue him and several other political officials badges and guns. Feeley declined, and he was subsequently passed over for the top job at ICE," the WSJ report stated.

It added, "Lewandowski next turned to ICE's legal office for help writing him a legal justification to be issued the badge and gun. A top ICE lawyer, Ken Padilla, also declined to sign off, and days later, he was placed on administrative leave. He was later demoted and moved to FEMA, the people said. Padilla declined to comment… Lewandowski eventually persuaded other lawyers to sign off. The ICE director's autopen was used to sign the paperwork, the people said."

Noem and Lewandowski's alleged affair reportedly left President Donald Trump and his advisors "uncomfortable," WSJ reported.

"Lewandowski had initially wanted to formally serve as Noem's chief of staff, but Trump rejected the idea due to reports of a romantic relationship between the two — which he has continued to bring up, officials say," it said.

There were reports that the POTUS' team was considering firing the Homeland Security Secretary over the affair rumors. However, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Daily Beast that those were "nothing but fake news."

The pair's "worst-kept secret" surfaced publicly after tabloid photos captured their closeness inside and outside the office.

"After tabloid photos of Lewandowski showed him going back and forth between his apartment and Noem's across the street last year, the secretary moved into a government-owned waterfront house on a military base in Washington that is provided to the leader of the U.S. Coast Guard," part of the WSJ report read. "The Coast Guard falls under Noem's purview at DHS during peacetime. Lewandowski also spends time at the house. The DHS spokeswoman said Noem moved to the house for increased security and pays rent."

The outlet added in the report, "Lewandowski and Noem, who are both married, have publicly denied the reports of the affair, but people said they do little to hide their relationship inside the department."

Instead of becoming Noem's chief of staff, Lewandowski found himself working as a special government employee. The designation "allows private-sector employees to take advisory roles in government without relinquishing their outside salaries and investments," though it is "used for experts working on a specific project" capped at 130 days in a year.

In 2025, the White House Counsel's office reportedly "opened an inquiry into Lewandowski's potential abuse" of his position for allegedly urging officials to "move away from continuing long-term contracts with companies toward new ones."

"[Lewandowski] has raised alarm bells inside the White House and DHS," WSJ added, highlighting possible conflicts of interest.

The WSJ report emphasized Noem's intense focus on border czar Tom Homan, who replaced her as the leader of immigration enforcement in Minneapolis.

It disclosed, "Noem routinely berated staff if she saw Homan on TV and kept track of both their appearances to make sure she was on TV more than him, according to people familiar with the matter. On at least one occasion, she asked aides to ensure she drew a bigger crowd at a conference than Homan, who was speaking on a different day, one of the people said."

After ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis during an ICE enforcement operation in January, Noem and Lewandowski allegedly reamed out Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.

"For months, Noem and Lewandowski had demanded that ICE capture its arrests on video for social media — the more dramatic, the better. But more than a week after Pretti's shooting, Noem and Lewandowski berated Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director, for videos that emerged in Minnesota showing federal officers continuing to tangle with protesters," said WSJ, citing people directly involved.

It revealed, "The president hated the continued stream of videos, they told Lyons, whom they pinned the blame on. They demanded that he draw up a new plan for ICE to carry out targeted enforcement, an approach Lyons had been advocating all along, according to ICE officials, but that the pair had previously eschewed."