Trump's former ICE head Kristi Noem faces fresh accusations of affair after refusing to answer question during hearing

New rumours have surfaced that the real reason for U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's sacking was due to her non-answer when asked about whether she had an affair with one of her aides, Corey Lewandowski.

It was previously reported that she was sacked over contentions about a US$220 million (S$280 million) January 2025 ad on immigration, which she featured in.

Non-answer about alleged affair with Lewandowski

Lewandowski is married with four children, while Noem is married with three children and four grandkids, People reported.

Lewandowski has been a longtime political operative and began working with Trump in 2015, but has been in and out of the door several times.

He has been working as a special government employee in Noem's Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Allegations about an inappropriate relationship between Noem and Lewandowski have reportedly circulated for a while.

During the Mar. 4 U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing, a lawmaker asked Noem if she had sexual relations with Lewandowski at any point in time during her tenure as the DHS cabinet secretary.

Her reply was, "Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we are going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today."

At one point, the lawmaker suggested that Noem should be able to answer the question "clearly and without hesitation" and that she should be "wanting to answer the question".

The lawmaker also explained, with Noem attempting to talk over her, that the question was not about Noem's "sex life" but her "judgment".

Other lawmakers continued pressing Noem for an answer, but Noem continued to deflect.

One suggested that Noem needs to "say the word 'no' into the record" so she could clear things up, but Noem continued to frame the line of questioning as based on "tabloid" suggestions and called it "ridiculous".

Noem's husband was present at the hearing in the audience behind her.

Final straw

Noem's non-answer, sources told New York Post, was the "final straw" for Trump and the end of her tenure as Homeland Security Secretary.

It was seen as an admission that she and Lewandowski were in a sexual relationship, New York Post wrote.

Another source told the publication that between the questions about the contentious ad and those on Lewandowski, there was "no going back".

Lewandowski told the New York Post that he wasn't sure what role the alleged affair played, saying that he was being asked to "speculate on things" that he had "no insight into".

Luxury jet with private cabin

Earlier in February 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that Noem and Lewandowski had been travelling together on a luxury Boeing 737 MAX jet with a private cabin in the back, citing people familiar with the matter.

Noem was also asked about the Boeing jet and private cabin by a U.S. lawmaker during the Mar. 4 hearing.

When shown a photo of a private bedroom cabin on a plane, Noem said that the photo was "not accurate" and that the planes that DHS purchased are being used as "long-range command and control aircraft".

WSJ also claimed in its report that while Noem and Lewandowski publicly denied their affair, they did little to hide it within the DHS.

It also claimed that Noem and Lewandowski frequently berated senior-level DHS staff, gave polygraph tests to employees they distrusted and fired a Coast Guard pilot for leaving Noem's blanket on a plane.

CBS News reported on Mar. 6 that Lewandowski is also leaving the DHS and had an "acrimonious" conversation with Trump following Noem's grilling by U.S. lawmakers on the January 2025 ad.

Top image via Kristi Noem / Facebook