Kristi Noem may be out of a top Cabinet job, but at least she can still count on her alleged lover to never be too far away.
Just two days after being pushed from her powerful perch atop the Department of Homeland Security, 54-year-old Noem resurfaced at President Donald Trump’s Shield of the Americas Summit at the Trump National Doral Golf Club in South Florida on Saturday, where she was on hand with her brand-new title: special envoy for the ”Shield of the Americas.”
But instead of basking in the spotlight, Noem, 54, found herself oddly sidelined—even as her rumored paramour, Corey Lewandowski, popped up nearby.
The event was billed by the White House as a regional security meeting aimed at combating cartels and tightening border enforcement across the Western Hemisphere.
Leaders from a dozen Latin American countries attended alongside top Trump Cabinet figures, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 54, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, 45, who gave addresses at the event.
Noem, however, didn’t take the microphone—even though the event highlighted the very job title she had just been handed.
Instead, the summit appearance quickly drew attention for another reason: Lewandowski, 52, who lost his advisory role after Noem was fired, appeared to be attending the same event.
The former advisor shared photos from the event on X, writing that he was “honored to be able to participate,” despite his recent ousting from the administration.
The abrupt departure comes after months of rumors surrounding his alleged affair with Noem—a dynamic that has been widely whispered about in political circles for more than a year.
Reports about the pair’s alleged romance have been reported by The Daily Beast since Feb 2025, with insiders describing the relationship as one of Washington’s “worst-kept secrets.”
Lewandowski’s influence inside Noem’s orbit had already raised eyebrows during her tenure at DHS. Although he held no formal government title during his 14-month term as her advisor, critics and former staffers reportedly viewed him as an unofficial second-in-command who wielded outsized power inside the department.
That influence reportedly extended to decisions involving travel and personnel.
At one point, Lewandowski allegedly orchestrated the firing of a Coast Guard pilot after a mishap involving a blanket belonging to Noem that had been left behind during a plane switch aboard the department’s taxpayer-funded Boeing 737 aircraft.
The alleged relationship even spilled into congressional hearings.
During a Capitol Hill grilling on Wednesday, lawmakers repeatedly pressed Noem to address the rumors directly, asking whether she could “say no for the record” when it came to accusations that she and Lewandowski were involved.
Noem refused to give the categorical denial he was seeking.
Instead, she dismissed the allegations as political attacks, accusing critics of trying to smear conservative women.
Calling the accusations a strategy utilized by the “liberal left” to “attack conservative women” by labeling them as “either stupid or s--ts,” she told lawmakers.
The summit appearance came amid the broader fallout from Noem’s abrupt departure from DHS—an exit that followed intense scrutiny over a controversial $220 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign promoting the administration’s immigration crackdown.
The expensive ads prominently featured Noem riding horseback and touting border enforcement—a branding push that conservative critics blasted as an expensive vanity project.
Trump, 79, himself appeared eager to distance himself from the campaign, telling Reuters on Thursday ahead of her firing that he “never knew anything about it.”
Meanwhile, the political reshuffling continues.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, 48, is expected to take over the Homeland Security post pending Senate confirmation, while Noem’s newly minted envoy role appears far less defined.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and DHS for comment.
