Lewandowski pushes back on ‘politically driven’ Wall Street Journal report

Former Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski on Tuesday pushed back on a recent Wall Street Journal article alleging he controlled billions of dollars of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contracts, accusing the news outlet’s reporting of being “politically driven.”

The DHS designated Lewandowski as a “special government employee” allowed to carry out private business for the department. It was in this capacity that the Journal claimed he pitched government services to Qatari and Emirati officials.

A representative for the former adviser denied to the Journal that Lewandowski “sought contracts with foreign governments,” adding he “adamantly denies ever demanding any payment or compensation from any potential, former, or current government contractor or seeking … contracts with foreign governments while volunteering his time with DHS.”

“This latest Wall Street Journal story, a once great publication, is today just another example of the kind of anonymous-source, politically driven reporting that Americans have seen time and again,” Lewandowski wrote on the social platform X .

He added that he was “tremendously proud of” his “work as a volunteer in advancing this administration’s agenda,” writing in a separate post that the Journal’s story was “fiction.”

“On the week of the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 you would think the WSJ would be more interested in how our homeland has become secure as opposed to the innuendo fake news story they published today,” he continued.

The Journal cited unnamed sources who claimed Lewandowski approached officials from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates offering to help with issues falling under DHS purview, including visas. Some of these officials were reportedly taken aback by the offers and declined.

Lewandowski’s role at the DHS gave him authority to decide the use of “large amounts of recently appropriated billions of dollars.” He was an adviser to, and had a personal relationship with, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem before she was ousted from her role due to excessive spending allegations.

House Democrats asked the DHS’s Office of Inspector General to open an investigation into Lewandowski earlier this year, accusing him of mismanagement and corruption.

They cited a separate Journal article claiming Lewandowski urged Noem to ditch some of the DHS’s long-term contracts in favor of newer agreements, posing challenges to grant applicants.

The reporting prompted lawmakers to urge the DHS to rescind the $100,000 approval policy and return to the prior approval threshold, “given the clear risk of mismanagement, confusion, and self-dealing.”

Last month, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) pressed the DHS for interim findings and other records from its investigation into Lewandowski.

“The allegations against Mr. Lewandowski, if true, indicate significant corruption, abuse of taxpayer funds, and flagrant conflicts of interest that require Congressional investigation based on a comprehensive record of his tenure at DHS,” wrote Hassan, a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in a letter to DHS Under Secretary for Management Brian Cavanaugh.