The plane’s pilot was allegedly fired by Lewandowski and told to take a commercial flight home once the team reached their destination. However, he ended up being reinstated after the group realized nobody else was available to fly them back, WSJ reported.
DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied the outlet’s allegations against Noem and Lewandowski in a statement to PEOPLE, saying, “This is categorically false.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told PEOPLE in a statement about the report that President Donald Trump « continues to have full confidence in the Secretary. »Government to Spend Nearly $200 Million on ‘Spacious’ Private Jets for Kristi Noem and Other Officials: Reports
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference at a federal office building on October 20, 2025
Kristi Noem Says Americans Should Be Prepared to Prove Their Citizenship as ICE Ramps Up Raids
ICE agents detain a woman after pulling her from a car on January 13, 2026 in Minneapolis
Elsewhere in the report, WSJ claimed that since Noem took office in January 2025, she has been closely monitoring how her national profile compares to other officials in the Trump administration, specifically White House border czar Tom Homan.
Noem has allegedly kept track of how much she and Homan have been on television to make sure she is on screens more often and berated staff if she saw him on TV, the outlet reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.
The secretary has also allegedly asked aides on at least one occasion to make sure she drew a larger crowd than Homan at her press conference, the outlet reported.
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Though Noem officially oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as the leader of the Department of Homeland Security, Homan was tapped by Trump as an unofficial immigration chief who reports directly to the president, not Noem.
WSJ claimed that Noem and Homan rarely speak.
