Tag: corey lewandowski
Lewandowski's Dominant Role At Homeland Security Raising Eyebrows

Lewandowski's Dominant Role At Homeland Security Raising Eyebrows

Corey Lewandowski, the pugnacious brawler who once managed Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, will just not go away. No, literally. He has apparently exceeded the 130 days he can serve as a “special government employee”—but he’s not leaving.

Lewandowski has been a frequent presence at the Department of Homeland Security, acting as the de facto chief of staff for Secretary Kristi Noem and amassing power at DHS. He’s fired people, signed off on billions of dollars in grant funding, demanded that employees take polygraph tests, and went to war on employees with pronouns in their bio. Quite the busy boy for someone with no official role.

In order to get around the 130-day limit, it appears that he’s just not clocking in, instead sliding in with other employees so he doesn’t have to swipe his badge. It’s totally great and cool to learn that government building security is so lax that it’s no problem for someone to get in without a badge.

Lewandowski has been keeping his own time, and according to him, he’s only worked 69 days (nice) since January 2025. The administration believes it is an undercount, but thus far, the White House hasn’t taken any action to remove the squatter.

Lewandowski’s employment status is the same as Elon Musk had, but Musk really did leave at the 130-day mark after launching his DOGE disaster. Of course, that departure got very messy when he started feuding with Trump.

Lewandowski draws no salary as an SGE, so it’s not like he’s clinging to this for the cash. But if he leaves, he can’t continue consolidating his power at DHS. He probably wouldn’t be able to accompany Noem on trips to Israel, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, El Salvador, and Mexico, even if he is her not-at-all-secret boyfriend.

It would be kind of weird to bring your boyfriend to high-level meetings with overseas diplomats or let him steer no-bid government contracts to cronies, as Noem has done with Lewandowski. But hey, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is letting his wife help run the Pentagon and bringing her to sensitive meetings with foreign military leaders, so maybe Lewandowski could just keep tagging along with Noem while she cosplays as a firefighter, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, and a border patrol cowgirl.

The real problem for Lewandowski isn’t the 130-day limit. If the White House wanted him to stay, they’d engage in complicated appointment shenanigans to let him do so, just like they did with Trump’s former personal attorney Alina Habba in her role as Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. There, the White House has strung together various short-term ways to keep her in her job despite not being confirmed by the Senate. But it’s Trump who doesn’t want Lewandowski in an official role, and it’s not like there’s any way around that.

Reportedly, Trump refused to let Lewandowski become Noem’s official chief of staff because he was worried about the optics of him working for someone he is romantically involved with. There’s also the small matter of both Noem and Lewandowski being married to other people, neither of whom ever seem to be mentioned.

So, possible romantic entanglements keep you out of the administration, but inciting people to kill police officers is no problem. Being a far-right troll who represented Andrew Tate? Totes cool. Hanging with white supremacists? You get to lead the U.S. Institute of Peace!

No one knows if the White House will bring the hammer down on Lewandowski, but maybe he can just officially move in with Noem rather than keeping an apartment across the street. It’s no chief of staff job, but at least he’d save some money on rent.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

District Of Columbia Bar Counsel Urges Disbarment Of Rudy Giuliani

District Of Columbia Bar Counsel Urges Disbarment Of Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani, ex-New York mayor and personal Trump lawyer, “weaponized his law license” in a constitution-undermining gambit to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Pennsylvania, violating the terms of his law license, a D.C. Bar’s disciplinary counsel declared on Thursday.

Lead prosecuting attorney Hamilton “Phil” Fox, whose Office of Disciplinary Counsel brought forth the charges, argued that since Giuliani’s election-subverting crusade in Pennsylvania was part of a large scheme to undermine democracy, only the most severe sanction — losing his license to practice law in the jurisdiction — would be appropriate.

“I think the seriousness of misconduct calls for only one sanction, and that is the sanction of disbarment,” Fox told the D.C. Bar.

The finding, panel chairman Robert C. Bernius said, was “preliminary and nonbinding,” reached after a week of testimony from Giuliani and other witnesses, including Bernard Kerik, a former Trump adviser; Trump lawyer Christina Bobb; and disgraced ex-senior Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski, who was accused of — and indicted for — sexual harassment.

“What Mr. Giuliani did was use his law license to undermine the legitimacy of a presidential election, to undermine the basic premise of the democratic system that we all live in, that has been in place since the 1800s in this country,” Fox said.

Giuliani, Fox alleged during the turbulent first hearing, spearheaded former President Trump’s nationwide effort to overturn his defeat, partaking in legal crusades — in particular, a frivolous and ultimately futile lawsuit in a Pennsylvania federal court — baselessly alleging voter fraud.

“Mr. Giuliani was responsible for filing a frivolous action asking a court in Pennsylvania to deny millions of people the right to vote,” Fox said, noting that many had marched and died for voting rights.

Giuliani, the panel’s complaint, alleged sought audacious and extraordinary relief in his Rolodex of post-election litigations in Pennsylvania and other states, including orders barring the certification of the 2020 presidential election results and “[a] declaration that Donald Trump was the winner of the legal votes cast in Pennsylvania in the November 3, 2020, election and thus the recipient of Pennsylvania’s electors.”

In a tense questioning session during the hearing, Giuliani repeated false 2020 election fraud allegations and accused the Biden administration of persecuting him.

“Mr. Giuliani has testified on several occasions that he believes there was a conspiracy. There was a conspiracy, and he was the head of it,” Fox countered.

On Thursday, Fox insisted that “Any lawyer that engages in this kind of misconduct, harming the country as this has done, has at least got to realize that his or her law license is at risk.”

He also noted that Giuliani’s election denialism was unbecoming, especially considering his “distinguished” career “twenty years ago” as a former U.S. attorney and federal prosecutor.

“It’s like there are two different people. I don’t know if something happened to Mr. Giuliani or what,” Fox said.

Giuliani took umbrage at the recommendation and — ignoring his attorney’s advice — launched into a tirade when the proceedings wrapped up, lambasting the panel for permitting Fox to present what he called a “typical, unethical, cheap attack.”

“The fact you advocate another side in a case does not make you a traitor. I have put my life up and at risk for democracy,” Giuliani barked.

I’ll put my work on democracy … up against Mr. Fox and anyone else. For that man to engage in that kind of a personal attack when there was no record of that, and for you to allow him to do that, I consider an outrage,” he added.

Giuliani’s attorney, John Levanthal, formerly a New York judge, accused the panel of putting for politicized argument and argued for a lighter disciplinary measure, noting that the Pennsylvania fraud lawsuit at issue was rejected.

The D.C. Bar will consider written statements from Fox and Giuliani before issuing its recommendation to the D.C Court of Appeals, which will then make its decision after deliberations.

This process, the Washington Post notes, could take up to a year.

GOP Donor Accuses Lewandowski Of 'Sexually Graphic' Harassment At Vegas Fundraiser

GOP Donor Accuses Lewandowski Of 'Sexually Graphic' Harassment At Vegas Fundraiser

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet

A longtime aide to former President Donald Trump is facing accusations of misconduct after allegedly inflicting brazen, repeatedly rejected sexual overtures, including physical contact, on a female Republican donor.

According to Politico, Trashelle Odom — wife of Idaho executive John Odom — is accusing Corey Lewandowski of "making unwanted sexual advances" toward her at a charity event that was held in Las Vegas, Nev., this past weekend. Odom "alleges that Lewandowski repeatedly touched her, including on her leg and buttocks, and spoke to her in sexually graphic terms" while they were at the event.A donor and longtime aide for former President Donald Trump is facing accusations after allegedly making sexual advances toward a female victim.

Speaking to Politico, Odom recounted what occurred on September 26 when she crossed paths with Lewandowski.

"On the evening of September 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada, I attended a dinner to support a charity and spend time with wonderful friends," Odom said in a statement to the publication. "He repeatedly touched me inappropriately, said vile and disgusting things to me, stalked me, and made me feel violated and fearful," she said in reference to Lewandowski.

Odom went on to explain why she is speaking out about the encounter. "I am coming forward because he needs to be held accountable," she continued. "I am blessed to have a loving husband and family behind me. I want other women to know that you can be heard, too, and together we can stop terrible things like this from happening."

Odom's attorney has also released a statement detailing his client's account. According to the attorney, Lewandowski aggressively pursued Odom as he made advances "approximately 10 times."

"Mrs. Odom stated that over the course of the dinner, Mr. Lewandowski tried to hold her hand, and she pushed his hand away. He touched her leg, and she moved it away. He grabbed her napkin off her lap and tried to touch her leg again, and she pulled her dress over her leg, to move his hand away and cover her skin," Odom's attorney wrote in the statement.

"He touched her back and she tried to get away," the statement continued. "He described an area where he was sore from a workout, on the side of his butt, but he demonstrated this by touching her there—on the upper side of her rear end. Lewandowski tried to touch her approximately 10 times, and Mrs. Odom always rebuffed him."

In wake of the latest allegations, David Chesnoff, the Las Vegas-based attorney representing Lewandowski, also released a brief statement in response to the situation. However, he did not directly address Odom's allegations. "Accusations and rumors appear to be morphing by the minute and we will not dignify them with a further response," he said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Wednesday evening, the Trump apparatus announced that the former president has severed ties with Lewandowski, according to this tweet posted by New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman:

Donald Trump

Trump Fires Pentagon Advisors, Appoints Cronies And Denies Briefings To Biden

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

On Friday, the White House fired nine members of the Pentagon's Defense Business Board and installed people loyal to President Donald Trump, Politico reports. At the same time, Trump's Pentagon officials have refused members of President-elect Joe Biden's transition team to meet with officials at U.S. intelligence agencies.

The aforementioned board members were all fired via form letter email that told them that their terms had expired — even though that wasn't true for three of the members — and they were neither given any warning nor thanks for their service.

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