Corey Lewandowski Wielded Unprecedented Power Inside DHS Despite Limited Advisory Role

Corey Lewandowski, President Trump's former campaign manager, exercised sweeping and largely unchecked influence over the Department of Homeland Security during the past year, directing decisions on contracts, personnel, and operations that far exceeded his nominal role as a senior adviser, according to current and former department officials and internal documents. The extent of Lewandowski's power within DHS has emerged as a central concern following the departure of former Secretary Kristi Noem, who is widely seen as having ceded substantial authority to the political operative.

Lewandowski, who had no formal government title for much of his tenure at the department, operated from an office near Noem's and was involved in decisions that are typically reserved for Senate-confirmed officials and career civil servants. According to officials who worked with him, Lewandowski reviewed and approved major contracts, weighed in on the hiring and firing of senior staff, and directed operational priorities in areas including immigration enforcement, cybersecurity, and disaster response.

The scope of Lewandowski's influence raised alarm among career officials who viewed his involvement as a violation of established governance norms. Federal law and regulation place strict limits on who can make binding decisions on behalf of the government, and those officials said Lewandowski's activities frequently blurred or crossed those lines. Several officials said they documented instances in which Lewandowski issued directives that they believed exceeded his authority.

Noem's relationship with Lewandowski was the subject of persistent speculation within the department. Officials described a dynamic in which the secretary increasingly deferred to Lewandowski on both policy and operational matters, a pattern that some attributed to his close relationship with Trump and the political leverage that relationship provided. Noem's office consistently denied that Lewandowski played an outsized role, but multiple officials contradicted that characterization.

Among the most consequential areas of Lewandowski's involvement was the department's procurement process. Officials said he intervened in contract decisions worth hundreds of millions of dollars, in some cases directing that awards be steered toward companies with connections to Trump's political network. The Government Accountability Office has been asked to review several of the contracts in question, though no formal findings of wrongdoing have been issued.

Lewandowski also played a significant role in immigration enforcement decisions, according to officials who worked on those issues. He participated in meetings where enforcement priorities were set and weighed in on individual cases in ways that career immigration officials found unusual and potentially improper. His involvement in immigration operations continued even after his advisory role was supposed to have been limited following media scrutiny of his activities.

The revelations about Lewandowski's influence have fueled congressional demands for greater oversight of political appointees and advisers within the department. The Senate Homeland Security Committee has requested documents related to Lewandowski's activities and has indicated that it may seek his testimony as part of the confirmation process for Mullin, Trump's nominee to replace Noem.

Governance experts said Lewandowski's role illustrated a broader pattern within the Trump administration of empowering political loyalists in positions that lack the accountability mechanisms built into Senate-confirmed roles. The arrangement allowed Lewandowski to exercise significant government power without being subject to the disclosure requirements, ethical constraints, or oversight that apply to formally appointed officials.

Lewandowski did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the former DHS secretary said Noem oversaw all department operations during her tenure and that any suggestion to the contrary was inaccurate.