Lendowski Busted for pushing private contracts while at DHS

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When Corey Lewandowski was at the Department of Homeland Security, he approached senior Qatari officials with a proposal.

Hire me on the side, the longtime Trump aide who was effectively the shadow secretary at the department last year, told them, according to people familiar with his pitch. He said he could help the tiny, wealthy Gulf state with any issues that fell under the department’s purview, such as visas, the people said.

He approached representatives of the United Arab Emirates with a similar offer, people familiar with the outreach said.

Some of the foreigners were taken aback and confused why they would need Lewandowski’s help when they already had traditional relationships with top administration officials. Qatar and U.A.E. declined the proposals, the people said.

The alleged moneymaking efforts, which appeared to be offers by Lewandowski to sell government services for personal gain, came while he had an expansive portfolio at one of the most powerful agencies in the federal government. The role gave him de facto decision-making authority over large amounts of recently appropriated billions of dollars, the president’s border and immigration enforcement agenda and the collection of tariffs, which have been vastly expanded under President Trump.

Lewandowski held the status of a “special government employee,” or SGE, which allowed him to carry out private business. He also was in a close personal relationship with the actual DHS secretary at the time, Kristi Noem.

A wide-ranging probe by the department’s internal watchdog is scrutinizing any potential improprieties in the contracting process, including any evidence of personal enrichment by top officials. It has since found evidence that Lewandowski may have been involved in improperly awarding government contracts, the Journal reported in July.

A representative for Lewandowski denied Lewandowski had “sought contracts with foreign governments,” said he played no role in contract review or approval at the department and said he hadn’t been contacted about any investigation into contracting at DHS. The representative said Lewandowski “adamantly denies ever demanding any payment or compensation from any potential, former, or current government contractor or seeking or soliciting or entering contracts with foreign governments while volunteering his time with DHS,” and that “Lewandowski denies any wrongdoing.” The representative didn’t respond to other detailed questions from The Wall Street Journal.

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