A political storm in Washington, D.C. has engulfed Kristi Noem following her firing by President Donald Trump, as scrutiny mounts over her tenure and a widening set of scandals tied to her department and close associates.

The former Homeland Security secretary has been dealing with a cascade of controversies after a tense congressional hearing over an alleged relationship with Corey Lewandowski, a long-time Republican operative who had been serving as her de facto chief of staff.

She faced bipartisan backlash over a $220 million DHS ad campaign that reportedly angered Trump and led to her removal, an inspector general investigation into Lewandowski’s potential influence over departmental decisions and contracts, allegations involving her husband, Bryon Noem, messaging fetish models, and questions around contracting ties linked to former spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin and her husband’s firm.

Last month, the ex-Homeland Security secretary faced the music at back-to-back congressional hearings.

During one of the hearings before the House committee, Kristi Noem dismissed the rumors surrounding Lewandowski as “tabloid garbage,” but did not directly deny them.

In her 2024 memoir No Going Back, the former South Dakota governor wrote about shooting and killing her young family dog, Cricket. During a March 3 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Thom Tillis publicly challenged her over an incident during the hearing.

“You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time and training, and then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it's a leadership lesson about tough choices,” he said.

Lawmakers also blasted her over DHS's pursuit of a roughly $70 million luxury jet for deportation and command-and-control flights, complete with a bedroom, showers, a kitchen, and entertainment amenities.

During the Senate hearing surrounding her tenure, John Kennedy, the Republican senator from Louisiana, pressed Kristi Noem on the DHS advertising campaign tied to her department, questioning both its cost and the decision-making behind it.

Kristi Noem said Trump had approved the effort, but she was later fired after he reportedly grew furious over the fallout from the $220 million DHS ad campaign; Markwayne Mullin was tapped to replace her, making her the first cabinet member dismissed from Trump’s team.

After her ouster, Noem was appointed Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a new role coordinating a U.S.-led regional security effort against cartels, illegal migration, and transnational crime, reporting to the State Department and meeting regional leaders.

Following her departure, Kristi Noem thanked Trump, writing on X, "I want to thank President Trump for entrusting me to lead the department leading the fight to Make America Safe Again."

According to The New York Times, the DHS inspector general has been conducting an investigation into the role of Lewandowski during Kristi Noem’s tenure, including whether he influenced departmental decisions and contracting despite holding no formal government position. The review has examined how contracts were awarded, particularly those tied to a high-profile advertising campaign, and whether Lewandowski’s interactions with companies seeking DHS work amounted to improper influence or conflicts of interest.

The DHS Office of the Inspector General declined to confirm the existence of a probe into Lewandowski, citing a longstanding policy of neither confirming nor denying specific investigations, People reported.

“Mr. Lewandowski has never directed any company to hire anyone,” Lewandowski’s office told media outlet People. “Contracting decisions rest with authorized officials at DHS. When $15 billion has been saved for American taxpayers, he recognizes that entrenched interests may be resistant to the reforms which were executed.”

At the same time, revelations surrounding Kristi Noem's husband, Bryon Noem, have emerged, with a bombshell report by The Daily Mail alleging he had been DM'ing fetish models, shared images said to show him wearing leggings and prosthetic breasts, and sent at least $25,000 to online acquaintances.

A representative for Kristi Noem told several news outlets that she is “devastated,” adding that the family had been “blindsided” by the reports.

“I will at some point. Today is not the day. I appreciate your heart,” he told The New York Times on Tuesday in response to requests for an interview.

The couple married in 1992 and has three children.

Others close to former homeland security secretary have also been mired in allegations.

Questions also mounted over Noem's former chief spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, and her husband Ben Yoho’s firm, The Strategy Group Company, after reporting linked the company to DHS’s $220 million advertising campaign.

According to ProPublica, Strategy Group received more than $200 million in connection with the campaign as a subcontractor, while Federal Communications Commission documents identified McLaughlin in a role tied to the decision-making process for the advertising buy. McLaughlin has said she recused herself from any involvement in the contracts, but critics have pointed to the overlap between her senior DHS position and her husband’s firm receiving work on the same campaign as a potential conflict of interest. Senate Democrats have since sought additional records and communications from Yoho and the company as part of their review of how the contracts were awarded.

Noem faced widespread backlash for publicly describing Alex Pretti and Renée Good as “domestic terrorists” after both were fatally shot by federal immigration agents during enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE agent on January 7, and Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was fatally shot by federal agents on January 24 amid protests over Good’s death.

Thaddeus Cleveland, the Republican sheriff of Terrell County, Texas, told Newsweek that Noem was "flashy and toxic."

"I think all of DHS’s successes in the last year were in spite of, not because of, her leadership. She had also been micromanaging agencies, deploying assets to Minnesota politically, instead of tactically," Cleveland told Newsweek after Noem was ousted.

"She had no experience with border security nor immigration, and her allegiance was to herself and her own professional ambition, not DHS. She probably had a handful of supporters she lavished with senior roles and contracts, but she mostly had detractors.

Newsweek has contacted DHS and the State Department for comment.