Kristi Noem faced fresh scrutiny in Washington this week afterrelatives of her husband, Bryon Noem, told The New York Post that he has remained in the marriage out of religious conviction, even as rumours of an alleged affair with Corey Lewandowski continued to hang over her. The claims, published on Thursday, pushed a long-running political whisper further into public view and attached a more personal cost to a scandal Noem has repeatedly dismissed.
For context, the latest report arrived after Donald Trump fired Noem as secretary of homeland security in a Truth Social post on Thursday, with Lewandowski also reportedly out at the department. According to the source material provided, the alleged relationship was said to be among the reasons for her removal, alongside other controversies that had followed the former South Dakota governor during her tenure at DHS.
The sharpest detail in the new report was not a new denial or some fresh piece of documentary evidence. It was a relative's explanation for why Bryon Noem stayed.
Speaking to The New York Post, an alleged family member said he had decided about 20 years ago that it was his 'calling from God' tosupport Kristi Noemin whatever she chose to do. That, the relative said, was why he had endured what the family described as humiliation.
Kristi Noem's husband is right behind her. "Apparently when your blankie was left on one of the govt jets and not transported to the new one, your special govt employee, Corey Lewandowski, chivalrously stepped forward to fight the pilot -- mid air!"pic.twitter.com/5K5k3HZxCw
Another family member pointed to the same religious commitment, but added a more ordinary and perhaps sadder reason. Bryon Noem, the relative said, is devoted to the couple's three children and believes marriage is for life.
In the telling offered by those close to him, this was not steadfastness in the romantic sense. It was obligation, faith and family pressed into service against embarrassment. Bryon Noem has largely appeared as the spouse who stands beside his wife and absorbs the noise. But privately, matters were looking bleak.
Nothing has been confirmed beyond those reported family remarks, so the allegation itself should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, the account suggests a household under strain long before the latest round of headlines.
The matter had already spilled into Congress earlier this week, where Noem was grilled about her relationship with Lewandowski. Democratic Florida representative Jared Moskowitz mocked Lewandowski's designation as a special government employee and used the exchange to drag an old rumour into a formal hearing room.
Noem pushed back hard. She called the line of questioning ridiculous, said the tabloids being referenced were insane, and accused critics on the left of attacking conservative women.
Source: International Business Times UK
