Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stunned department officials with profane outbursts reacting to a series of critical news reports examining her chaotic leadership.
The former South Dakota governor and her de facto chief of staff Corey Lewandowski gathered DHS officials to complain about June reports showing that she demanded to personally sign off on payments over $100,000, which caused delays and bottlenecks throughout the department. Employees told New York Magazine the pair – rumored to be a couple – harangued them in harsh terms.
“They were screaming!" a DHS employee told the magazine. “The level of disrespect and screaming at everybody in that room — I think people were really shocked and taken aback.”
Another former DHS staffer said Noem and Lewandowski were clearly embarrassed by the reports, and they said the duo fed off one another's negative energy as Noem dropped “multiple F-bombs" on subordinates. Sources said they were baffled when the pair accused others in the room of “lining their pockets” from government contracts – which struck them as projection.
“People are scared s---less of Corey,” said an administration official.
Lewandowski, a former Donald Trump campaign adviser, has been serving on a temporary basis as Special Government Employee after the White House ended his campaign to be DHS chief of staff over his alleged payments from foreign governments and rumors of an affair – the "worst-kept secret in DC," according to one official – between the two, who are each married to other people.
“Everything has to go through Corey," said a lobbyist who has done work with DHS. “It’s all based on ‘You’re my buddy, or you’re not my buddy. You hired my friend, or you didn’t hire my friend.’ That place just runs that way."