The White House Let Kristi Noem's Corruption Slide For Over a Year Before Allowing an Investigation

One of the hallmarks of the Trump administration is its open and spectacular political corruption—often conducted under protection from the very top. But now that Kristi Noem has taken the fall for the bad press from executing Trump’s policies at the Department of Homeland Security, investigators are beginning to dig into the corruption there.

The New York Times has an overview:

The focus of the investigation by the inspector general, Joseph V. Cuffari, who was nominated to his post by President Trump in his first term, reflects the widening fallout from Ms. Noem’s rocky tenure. Mr. Trump abruptly fired her last month amid criticisms of an expensive advertising campaign that prominently featured her. The inquiry deepens the questions about the latitude she granted to Mr. Lewandowski, a special adviser who was not an official government employee and was supposed to serve in a limited capacity. …

Mr. Cuffari, who was confirmed to his position in 2019, is one of the few remaining inspectors general after Mr. Trump fired or demoted many of them in his second term.

Mr. Cuffari clashed with Ms. Noem when she was leading the department, and he told Congress earlier this year that D.H.S. officials had blocked him from accessing critical information and databases needed for his investigations. Ms. Noem said at the time that Mr. Cuffari was seeking overly broad access to department information. …

The inspector general’s inquiry is intensifying the spotlight on the tight grip that Ms. Noem and Mr. Lewandowski had on contracts inside the agency, and the concerns among homeland security officials that Mr. Lewandowski was trying to enrich himself through his role, as The Times previously reported.

The question is why this investigation is only happening now. After more than a year of persistent reports of corruption at DHS, it seems the few remaining inspectors general are only permitted to do their job once the president has stopped running interference for one of his loyalists.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

© The UnPopulist, 2026

Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.