Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and her one-time aide Corey Lewandowski were photographed dining and biking together in a wealthy Minneapolis suburb, fueling questions about a relationship both have previously denied.
Images obtained by the Daily Mail show Noem, 54, and Lewandowski, 52, eating at The Grocer's Table cafe in Wayzata, Minnesota, on Tuesday before riding bicycles along the Lake Minnetonka waterfront. An unnamed insider told the outlet the two are "closer than ever."
The outing comes as Noem moves forward with a divorce from her husband of 34 years, Bryon Noem, 56, who runs an insurance agency. The couple met in high school, married in 1992, and have three adult children, daughters Kassidy, 32, and Kennedy, 29, and son Booker, 24. That marriage unraveled after the Daily Mail reported in April that Bryon Noem had been sending compromising images of himself to online fetish models and communicating with multiple women online.
Noem said at the time that she was "blindsided" and "devastated" by the revelations. Bryon Noem packed up and left the family home after the story broke. He now lives roughly 20 miles away.
Kristi Noem's mother, Corinne Arnold, 77, sat down with the Daily Mail last month at her home and described a family birthday party in late spring, just weeks after the scandal became public, where both Kristi and Bryon attended alongside the extended family.
Arnold said Bryon appeared to be in better spirits at the gathering. "Bryon was holding and hugging the kids. It seemed like the old Bryon," she told the outlet. "He was very nice. I hugged him, told him I loved him and he said the same."
But when Arnold pressed her daughter on whether reconciliation was possible, the answer was blunt. Arnold recounted asking, "What's the deal? Are you going to get together again?" Noem's reply, according to her mother: "No. No. We're going to get a divorce."
The Bryon Noem messaging scandal only deepened as further reporting emerged about the nature and duration of his online communications.
The unnamed insider quoted by the Daily Mail framed the divorce as painful but inevitable, saying Noem "loves Bryon" and "always will" but that Lewandowski "has been there with her through thick and thin, both professionally and personally." The insider added: "Who was there for her when she was let go by Trump, when the news about Bryon's fetish went public? It was Corey. Whatever the future holds, they are devoted to one another."
The question of whether Noem and Lewandowski are romantically involved is not new. The Daily Mail published an exposé in 2023 about their closeness, and both denied a relationship at the time. But the denials have grown less emphatic.
During a contentious House Oversight Committee hearing, California Democrat Sydney Kamlager-Dove asked Noem directly: "Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?" Fox News reported that Kamlager-Dove cited a Wall Street Journal report indicating that President Trump had rejected Lewandowski's request to serve as Noem's chief of staff at DHS, in part because of reports of a romantic relationship between them.
Noem did not issue an outright denial. Instead, she responded:
"Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today."
That hearing also featured Rep. Jamie Raskin alleging that Lewandowski had fired a Coast Guard pilot mid-flight after Noem's personal blanket was left on a different government jet, a claim that, if accurate, speaks to the unusual degree of operational authority Lewandowski wielded inside DHS.
Lewandowski's influence extended well beyond any normal advisory role. As a special government employee, he was legally limited to 130 days of work per year. But senior administration officials told the Washington Examiner that he played a significant and controversial part in day-to-day DHS operations.
One senior DHS official said Noem's tenure caused "reputational loss" for the department, adding that "her continued hobbling of the component heads leads to more negativity regarding law enforcement pros." Another senior administration official said bluntly that with Noem gone, "the leaders of CBP and ICE will be able to do their job without constant interference and harassment by Corey Lewandowski."
Noem and Lewandowski allegedly waged an internal campaign to force Trump-appointed CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott to resign. Tensions between Noem and border enforcement leaders Tom Homan and Todd Lyons grew so severe that they were reportedly "barely on speaking terms."
When President Trump removed Noem from DHS in March, multiple DHS officials and staff reportedly cried, out of happiness. She was reassigned to lead the Shield of the Americas, a newly created and much smaller agency housed in the State Department.
As Noem's mother previously confirmed, the former DHS secretary had been planning the divorce for some time, a decision that came against the backdrop of both professional upheaval and personal scandal.
The arc of Noem's fall from Republican rising star to a diminished federal posting has been remarkably swift. She entered the Trump cabinet as DHS secretary with a national profile built during her time as South Dakota's governor. Her aggressive stance on immigration enforcement made her a visible figure in the administration's signature domestic policy.
But her tenure was marked by internal dysfunction. The Alex Pretti shooting in Minneapolis, in which DHS agents fatally shot a man during immigration enforcement operations, became a flashpoint. Video evidence showed Pretti's firearm was never removed from its holster, and agents fired ten shots at him while he was on the ground and unarmed. Noem characterized the incident as "domestic terrorism," a claim that drew sharp pushback from critics who said the characterization was inaccurate and counterproductive to public support for immigration enforcement.
Noem's gubernatorial record also drew renewed scrutiny as controversies from her time in South Dakota resurfaced alongside her federal troubles.
Now, photographed on a lakeside bike ride with the man whose presence at DHS drew bipartisan complaint, Noem occupies a strange position in Republican politics: a former cabinet secretary whose professional downfall and personal life have become inseparable in the public eye.
The insider quoted by the Daily Mail insisted the bond between Noem and Lewandowski is genuine. "Making the decision to hire a lawyer and file for divorce was difficult. Very difficult," the insider said. Whether that decision was driven by Bryon Noem's scandal, by the relationship with Lewandowski, or by some combination of both, the source did not say.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin replaced Noem at DHS, and the leadership transition has been closely watched by conservatives who want the department focused on border enforcement rather than internal drama.
When the people running a federal agency generate more headlines than the agency's mission, the mission suffers, and so does the public's confidence that anyone in charge is serious about doing the job.
