Trump has questioned aides about Corey Lewandowski's role in DHS ad campaign, sources say

Source: NBC News

March 10, 2026, 11:08 AM EDT / Updated March 10, 2026, 11:09 AM EDT


WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has peppered aides in recent days about whether longtime adviser Corey Lewandowski profited personally from a $220 million federal advertising campaign featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired last week, according to three people familiar with his conversations.

“He’s mentioned the ads several times,” a senior White House official said, referring to Trump asking questions about Lewandowski’s role in the ad contract.

The ads were a repeated focus of lawmakers’ questions during a pair of contentious hearings on Capitol Hill last week that led in part to Trump’s decision to remove Noem as head of the agency and reassign her to a role as special envoy to the newly formed “Shield of the Americas.”

Trump told NBC News that he “wasn’t thrilled” when Noem testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had signed off on her expensive ad campaign. Contradicting Noem, he said that he “didn’t know anything about it” at the time. Behind the scenes, he has grown suspicious about Lewandowski’s role in doling out government contracts, according to the three people familiar with his conversations.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-questioned-aides-corey-lewandowskis-role-dhs-ad-campaign-sources-rcna262631