As the State Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem constantly gets herself under the spotlight for both her personal and professional decisions. She has taken a ruthless approach to leading ICE, all in the name of making America great again.
However, her extra-marital relationship with Corey Lewandowski is now taking a serious toll on her career, with rumors of Trump planning to fire her, which is what probably led Noem to bring out her rather reclusive husband Byron Noem with her on a December 11 public hearing.
Byron could be seen sitting while Noem gave testimony to the House Committee on Homeland Security. Though they acted as if everything was fine, it should be noted that Byron had not wished Noem on her birthday this year. Moreover, the fact that Noem decided now was a good time to make a public appearance with her husband, only shows attempts of damage control, now that her job is on the line because of her alleged affair.
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Interestingly, Noem did not stay for the full meeting and left early. The reason behind her action was probably to avoid difficult questions but the fact that she did not stay the entire meeting with her husband is further raising eyebrows. According to Newsweek, the hearing was filled with interruptions from protestors and subtle cries for Noem’s resignation and therefore, it was quite natural for Noem to leave early as otherwise there were high chances of her being grilled with questions she did not have answers to.
While Noem had mentioned at the beginning of the hearing that she needed to attend a FEMA meeting that was taking place at the same time. It later came out the meeting was canceled, so there was no reason for her to leave early with Byron
Talking to The Hill, Massachusetts representative Bennie Thompson said, “I understand on good information that the FEMA Council meeting was canceled so there was no need for her to go.” He also mentioned that Noem was a “liar” and that he planned to subpoena her so that she would appear in front of the council to answer their questions.
BREAKING🚨: Kristi Noem just RAN OUT of our hearing early, without notice.
Never has there been a Cabinet Secretary so terrified of accountability.
She needs to go.
— @onoso.bsky.social (@dotNoso) December 11, 2025
Noem, however, has remained mostly unbothered by the kind of allegations that surround her. Noem and Lewandowski make no real attempt to hide their affair. The fact that Noem made an appearance with her husband, shows that things at the White House are probably serious this time.
Besides her personal life, Noem has also been quite reckless regarding her professional decisions as well. The recently released data on the DHS website shows that the apparent “worst of the worst” criminals that ICE took hold of have the same criminal offense as her, which is traffic violation.
However, while she did not face any major consequences for her multiple traffic rule violations, those on the DHS website had to go through detention and remain in custody. With the looming threat of her job going to someone else, it now remains to be seen if Noem gets a little cautious regarding both her in and out of office behavior.
