President Donald Trump told the Daily Mail he was surprised by the outlet's reporting on Bryon Noem, the husband of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and his alleged online activity involving fetish models, cross-dressing photos, and thousands of dollars in payments through Cash App and PayPal.
Trump, reached by phone on Tuesday, offered a brief and unvarnished reaction when told that Bryon Noem had reportedly confirmed elements of the story.
The Daily Mail reported that Trump said:
"They confirmed it? Wow, well, I feel badly for the family if that's the case, that's too bad."
He added that he had not seen the report and knew nothing about it. The exchange came just weeks after Trump fired Kristi Noem from her post atop the Department of Homeland Security, a dismissal that followed bipartisan backlash over the agency's aggressive immigration enforcement tactics and scrutiny of a controversial $220 million advertising campaign that Noem said the President had approved but that Trump denied authorizing.
The Daily Mail's reporting described Bryon Noem, 56, as having sent photos of himself to fetish porn models online and having sent online acquaintances at least $25,000 through Cash App and PayPal. The conservative father of three and husband of 34 years allegedly confessed to some of those online contacts that his wife was engaged in an affair with Corey Lewandowski, a married Trump loyalist and close adviser to Kristi Noem.
When the Daily Mail reached Bryon Noem for comment, his responses were partial and guarded. He said, "Yeah, I made no comments like that, that would lead to that," and added, "I deny the second part of that." Pressed further, he offered only: "I know. There's nothing I can do about it."
The Noems married in 1992 and raised three children, daughters Kassidy, 31, and Kennedy, 29, and a son, Booker, 23. A spokesperson for Noem referenced their 34-year marriage.
The Daily Mail reported that multiple senior DHS sources said knowledge of Bryon Noem's online activity would have disqualified Kristi Noem from receiving top secret security clearance. The sources cited fears that she could be blackmailed by foreign entities.
One current official was quoted directly: "I can vouch for the blackmail claim. This would have been a disqualification for national security eligibility for anyone else whose spouse was hiding this."
That claim, if accurate, raises a question that goes well beyond tabloid curiosity. Cabinet secretaries handle some of the most sensitive intelligence in the federal government. DHS, in particular, oversees counterterrorism, border security, and cybersecurity operations. The idea that a secretary's spouse could create a blackmail vulnerability, and that senior officials inside the department knew it, is not a gossip item. It is a security matter.
The administration has dealt with related scrutiny on other fronts. The White House recently affirmed full confidence in another senior official even as leak investigations intensified across the national security apparatus.
The Daily Mail first revealed in 2023 that Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski allegedly carried on a years-long affair. That reporting resurfaced when lawmakers on Capitol Hill asked Noem under oath in early March whether she had ever had "sexual relations" with Lewandowski. She did not issue a denial.
Instead, Noem told the committee: "I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee."
Lewandowski, who is married, recently reappeared at Noem's side during her official trip to Guyana last week. State Department officials said Lewandowski was not acting in an official government role on that trip. His presence on a diplomatic mission, in any capacity, drew attention given the unresolved questions about the nature of his relationship with the former DHS secretary.
Democrats have already seized on Noem's tenure for other reasons. Congressional Democrats referred Noem to the DOJ for alleged perjury over the $220 million DHS advertising campaign. Noem told lawmakers the President had approved the ad. Trump said he hadn't.
When the Daily Mail asked Trump about the alleged affair between Noem and Lewandowski, the President said he was unaware. In February, he stated: "I don't know about that. I mean, I haven't heard that. I'll find out about it, but I have not heard that."
That response leaves open the question of how much the White House knew, and when, about the personal dynamics surrounding one of its most prominent cabinet appointments. Noem was not simply a mid-level appointee. She ran the third-largest federal department.
The political environment around the administration has grown more complicated in recent months. A Democratic flip of a Florida House seat in Trump's own Mar-a-Lago district has sharpened questions about whether Republicans are paying enough attention to vulnerabilities closer to home.
Despite her firing from DHS, Kristi Noem, 54, remains in government. She currently serves as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a newly created role focused on Western Hemisphere security. The scope and authority of that position remain unclear from public reporting.
The fact that Noem landed a new government role after being dismissed from DHS raises its own set of questions. If senior DHS sources are correct that her spouse's conduct posed a blackmail risk, does that risk disappear simply because her title changed? The security-clearance standards that govern access to classified material do not typically adjust based on job titles.
Meanwhile, critics from the left continue to frame the broader political picture as one of institutional disorder. Nancy Pelosi recently accused Republicans of lacking commitment to the rule of law while pushing a midterm strategy, a charge that, whatever its partisan motivation, lands differently when a fired cabinet secretary's family is at the center of an unresolved security question.
The Daily Mail's reporting is single-source on several key claims. Bryon Noem's partial denials neither confirm nor fully rebut the allegations. The $25,000 in payments, the photos, and the messages to fetish models are described by the outlet but not independently verified through published documents in the reporting. The security-clearance claim rests on unnamed DHS sources.
What is clear: a sitting president says he was blindsided. A fired cabinet secretary's husband gave halting, incomplete answers when confronted. Senior officials inside DHS told reporters the situation posed a national security risk. And the woman at the center of it all still holds a government post with apparent access to sensitive information about Western Hemisphere security.
None of those facts require a tabloid frame to matter. They require answers, from the administration, from Noem, and from the officials responsible for vetting the people who guard America's secrets.
When the people entrusted with homeland security can't keep their own house in order, the rest of us are left wondering who exactly is minding the store.
