The winter social season at Mar-a-Lago often functions as a live thermometer for Donald Trump’s inner circle, and the February 1 wedding of Dan Scavino and Erin Elmore was no different. It was a gathering of the loyalists, the “MAGA elite” who have defined President Donald Trump’s return to power. But once the party started, the guests—and eventually, everyone online—stopped looking at the bride and groom.
The real attention shifted to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. She showed up without her husband, and at an event packed with this specific crowd, people noticed. It felt less like a wedding and more like a political marker, and her solitude stood out.
For a Cabinet official charged with securing the nation’s borders, Noem’s own perimeter appeared surprisingly porous. She arrived not with her spouse but with Stephen Miller, the President’s longtime policy architect. In a curious setup that got people talking, Kristi Noem’s chief advisor, Corey Lewandowski, was observed entertaining Miller’s wife, Katie Miller.
The arrangement struck observers as a deliberate, if clumsy, game of musical chairs. Katie Miller, herself the subject of recent, persistent whispers regarding an affair with Elon Musk, seemed to complete a quartet of figures whose personal lives are becoming difficult to separate from their jobs. Also notably missing from the scene was Lewandowski’s wife, Alison.
I’m beginning to think the reason Kristi Noem’s husband didn’t divorce her after her years long affair with Corey Lewandowski is that he didn’t wanna end up in the gravel pit too. 😬 pic.twitter.com/2dXj4znEEW
— Christopher David (@Tazerface16) April 27, 2024
The optics were managed with a precision that only invited more scrutiny. Social media users on X were quick to dissect the footage, noting that Lewandowski walked what one observer called “an appropriate number of steps behind Kristi Noem,” a tactical distance that seemed designed to inoculate them against suspicion. Instead, it had the opposite effect.
You learn pretty quickly in this town that trying to hide something usually just draws a bigger target on your back. It got to the point where some news reports were cropping Lewandowski out of photos with Noem entirely, an editorial choice that shows just how radioactive that partnership is right now.
This is not a new problem for the Administration; it is a festering one. The narrative concerning Kristi Noem and Lewandowski has been written in slow motion over several years. It dates back to at least September 2021, when American Greatness reported on an “alleged fling” that had reportedly “continued for months.”
The relationship has always been characterised by an unusual intimacy. During her tenure as South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem relied heavily on Lewandowski’s counsel, a dependence that extended into the personal realm.
Good Christian Kristi Noem, who hates abortion and gay people, has been having an affair with Trump aide Corey Lewandowski. Kristi explains, “Adultery is still much less sinful than social dancing or books. Marriage is between a man and a woman and her side piece” pic.twitter.com/t8zNo8CgTq
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) September 15, 2023
In one telling instance, she helped him select a dog as a Christmas gift for his son—a domestic task typically reserved for a spouse, not a governor. The irony is sharp, given Noem’s own well-documented public relations disaster involving the shooting of her own puppy, a controversy that nearly derailed her political ascent.
The timeline of their association is riddled with red flags that would have sunk lesser careers. Noem publicly cut ties with Lewandowski in 2021 after Politico reported allegations that he had made unwanted sexual advances toward a GOP donor’s wife. Then, she confused her own team by bringing him back into the fold less than a year later.
The Daily Mail brought the whispers back in 2023, reporting that the affair might have started as far back as 2019. Around then, the New York Post ran a quote from a source who claimed to have seen the pair “making out” at a hotel bar in 2021.
Trump, who cares deeply about optics, has reportedly known this was a problem for a while. The Wall Street Journal noted that Trump previously opposed Lewandowski working for Noem, forcing the operative into an unofficial, shadow role. Yet, the proximity remains. The two are now neighbors in Washington, D.C., frequently spotted visiting one another’s homes.
Kristi Noem ran out of a congressional hearing using a fake excuse. She claimed:
“My adulterous Christian lover Corey Lewandowski needs my ATM card”
“My hair extensions have been recalled for asbestos”
“My botox has expired”
“Putin texted me” pic.twitter.com/Wbb0K1RHr3
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) December 11, 2025
As a source told The Daily Mail, “There’s no question the relationship is ongoing.” As Kristi Noem navigates the high-stakes demands of the Department of Homeland Security, this persistent shadow raises a question that the President may soon have to answer: At what point does a personal liability become a national security distraction?
