Why do I have the feeling that Marge Greene leaked this story to the Daily Mail?
A rising Republican star tipped by many to be Donald Trump‘s running mate should he win the presidential nomination has been involved in a clandestine affair for years, multiple sources tell DailyMail.com.
Married South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, 51 – who stresses her belief in ‘family values’ – and Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski, who is also married, began carrying on in 2019, if not before.
Now news of the relationship threatens to wreck Noem’s chances of joining Trump’s ticket in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden.
Glamorous Noem – who served four terms as her state’s only member of the US House of Representatives – won the governorship in 2018 promising to uphold the wholesome family values that she said South Dakotans have ‘long embraced’.
Defending ‘traditional marriage’, which she defined as ‘a special, God-given union between one man and one woman’, was particularly important to her.
It was the foundation for her beliefs, policy priorities and the ideals she lives by, said Noem, who has a son and two daughters with her husband Bryon who she married in 1992.
She has long been linked with Lewandowski, 49, who has been pushing hard for Trump to add her to his ticket.
‘He may not be very smart, but it takes big balls to lobby to have your mistress named one of the most powerful people in the country,’ one GOP operative told DailyMail.com.
The far-right website American Greatness claimed in 2021 the two had been romantically involved, although it gave no details.
At the time she scornfully dismissed the story as ‘total garbage and a disgusting lie’, and said she loved her husband and was ‘proud of the God-fearing family’ they had raised, and the story quickly died.
But a DailyMail.com investigation has uncovered extensive evidence of the couple’s romantic relationship: Dozens of trips that mixed business with pleasure, flights on donors’ private planes, and stays at luxury resorts where their intimacy was observed and noted.
I won’t bore you with any more of the evidence but it is voluminous .
Apparently, this back in 2021 wasn’t really enough to split up the two lovebirds:
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) is cutting off ties with Corey Lewandowski, an aide to former President Trump who was also advising her, following allegations that he sexually harassed a GOP donor at a charity event in Las Vegas last weekend.
Lewandowski had advised Noem as she saw her star rise from governor to national Republican star, fueling speculation she could make a run for the White House in 2024. Lewandowski helped introduce her to GOP movers and shakers and traveled with her across the country.
“Corey was always a volunteer, never paid a dime (campaign or official). He will not be advising the Governor in regard to the campaign or official office,” said Noem’s communications director, Ian Fury.
The announcement is the latest fallout from a report this week that Lewandowski harassed Republican donor Trashelle Odom. Odom in a statement to Politico accused Lewandowski of grabbing her behind, making inappropriate sexual remarks and following her throughout the Las Vegas event.
“He repeatedly touched me inappropriately, said vile and disgusting things to me, stalked me, and made me feel violated and fearful,” Odom said in her statement Wednesday.
Since the allegations were made public, Lewandowski was also removed from his role overseeing Trump’s super PAC.
He traveled to South Dakota with Trump last week.
I honestly don’t think this will impact her prospects to be VP. Why would it? Trump has been found liable for sexual assault in a court of law and is credibly accused of assaulting dozens of women. Maybe there’s a double standard for women but if I had to guess, a Republican woman like Noem will be equally exempt from the normal condemnation. She’s a star. In fact, it might just be the thing that vaults her into the VP slot. She and Trump are two peas in a pod.