DHS Watchdog Opens Criminal Probe Into Billions in No-Bid Contracts Under Noem

April 23, 2026

The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General has opened a criminal investigation into billions of dollars in no-bid contracts approved under former Secretary Kristi Noem and her de facto chief of staff Corey Lewandowski. Preservation notices have gone out to dozens of current and former DHS employees tied to the deals, CNN reported on March 26 and subsequent coverage through April 2026 confirmed the probe is expanding.

The contracting mess was one of the main reasons Trump fired Noem earlier this year. That was supposed to close the chapter. It opened the one where prosecutors start asking questions.

The $220 Million Horseback Ad Campaign

At the center of the original outrage is a $220 million DHS television ad campaign that prominently featured Noem, including a widely ridiculed spot of her riding a horse at Mount Rushmore. Most of that money, according to the criminal referral Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Jamie Raskin sent the Department of Justice, went to a firm with direct ties to former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin and her husband Benjamin Yoho, who runs the company.

Noem told Congress under oath that the contract was competitively bid. Durbin and Raskin say it was not. They have asked the DOJ to pursue perjury and false-statement charges. The Democracy Defenders Fund filed a FOIA on April 16 demanding release of every contract, invoice, and ethics waiver tied to the 2025 advertising spend.

Lewandowski and the Pay-to-Play Allegations

The bigger story is Corey Lewandowski. Trump's longtime political operative served as Noem's de facto chief of staff inside DHS without a Senate-confirmed title. NBC News reported that DHS contractors told White House officials Lewandowski personally asked them for payments to win or keep government work. GEO Group, one of the largest federal contractors in the country, is among the companies named. Lewandowski denies the allegations.

Palantir, the data analytics firm that does heavy DHS business, separately complained about its interactions with Lewandowski. That is notable because Palantir is not a company that typically picks fights with the people handing out its contracts. If they flagged Lewandowski to DHS internal affairs, the problem was not subtle.

The Inspector General has preservation orders out to dozens of employees, which in federal investigation language means they expect documents, emails, and texts to turn into evidence. Lawmakers and ethics specialists quoted in the coverage say the conduct, if proven, is textbook pay-to-play: using a government office to shake down contractors, bypass competitive bidding rules, and steer money to politically connected vendors. Those are federal crimes, not ethics violations.

What Firing Noem Did Not Fix

Trump's move to fire Noem was framed as accountability. It was the opposite. Noem is out of the building, so she cannot be subpoenaed as Secretary. Lewandowski's role inside DHS was never confirmed by the Senate, which limits congressional oversight jurisdiction. The Inspector General is now the last independent body still looking. The administration has been publicly hostile to IGs across the government since January 2025, including firing 17 of them in a single night in the first week of the second term.

If the IG gets pressured out or the probe slow-walked, the $220 million disappears into the general ledger, the horseback ad stops being a punchline, and a cabinet department gets normalized as a pay-to-play shop. That is the real stake in this one. Not the memes. The precedent.

Sources

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