Despite being fired by Donald Trump seven weeks ago, Kristi Noem is still reaping the benefits of leading a major Cabinet agency.
The former Homeland Security secretary has continued living in a guarded waterfront residence on a Washington, DC military base, which she was granted during her tenure in Trump’s cabinet.
Noem moved into a house reserved for the commandant of the Coast Guard on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. Shortly after Trump fired the commandant last year, Noem moved into her quarters on the base.
Noem, however, has continued using the living quarters over a month after her planned departure, according to a financial newspaper.
She continues to serve in the administration as Trump’s special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a State Department agency combating international drug cartels.
Sources told the Daily Mail that Trump handed her the job as a soft landing, but the office has already begun hemorrhaging staff, with nearly half its employees placed on administrative leave in March.
Following the revelation that her husband Byron was a crossdresser, Noem was not seen in the agency’s DC office for weeks.
The White House declined to comment.
The former Homeland Security secretary has continued living in a guarded waterfront residence on a Washington, DC military base, which she was granted during her tenure in Trump’s cabinet
Shortly after Trump fired the commandant last year, Noem moved into her quarters
This post was intended as a soft landing so it didn’t look like Noem was immediately being fired,’a State Department source told the Daily Mail of the newly-created Shield of the Americas
The current Coast Guard leader Admiral Kevin Lunday has reportedly told close friends that he plans to move into the house soon, according to the report.
He currently lives next door to Noem’s current residence at a home originally designed for the vice commandants.
Corey Lewandowski, Noem’s close adviser and rumored lover, has been seen entering and leaving her house at the base over the past year.
The Daily Mail previously published photos of Lewandowski leaving Noem’s previous residences in DC. Both Noem and Lewandowski have publicly denied carrying on an affair.
‘Scores of people have visited Ms. Noem at the house in a business capacity,’ Lewandowski said in response to the report.
Noem and Lewandowski were forced out of DHS after the President became frustrated with Noem’s responses about a $220 million ad campaign during a Senate grilling.
One commercial featured her galloping on a horse beside a stampeding herd of bison at Mount Rushmore, but Trump was apparently in the dark about the expenditure.
The Daily Mail previously reported in March that Noem and her associates are under criminal investigation for a slew of no-bid contracts over concerns about conflicts of interests and influence peddling.
Corey Lewandowski, Noem’s close adviser and rumored lover, has been seen entering and leaving her house at the base over the past year
The Homeland Security Inspector General has launched the ‘wide-ranging’ investigation, sending notices to dozens of people involved in approving the contracts, including many in Noem’s inner circle, sources said.
These officials are being ordered to preserve all communications including documents, text messages, emails and phone records, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Reports have emerged that Lewandowski would often brag that the President would pardon him before leaving office.
