WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump told reporters that he had “heard something about” the Department of Justice investigating allegations that Corey Lewandowski profited off his past role as an adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, after media reports of an investigation surfaced Thursday.
Lewandowski, who worked at the agency as a special government employee during Kristi Noem's tenure as Homeland Security secretary, was longtime ally
of Trump. The details of the allegations against Lewandowski aren't yet clear, though the president said Thursday after a report in The Wall Street Journal that he had heard of the probe.
The president notably didn't defend Lewandowski, who was his first campaign manager in 2016.
“I don't know exactly what it is,” Trump told reporters. “All I know is, I want my people to be honest. And if they’re not going to be honest, they have to be prosecuted." He added, "I'll have my DOJ go and do whatever they have to do.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that the probe was launched after a referral from the DHS inspector general, which included details about Lewandowski's time at the agency. Lewandowski was Noem’s lead adviser while at the department, where he appeared to play an outsized role even though his position was supposed to have a limit on days worked.
An attorney for Lewandowski, Adam Trigg, wrote in a texted comment to The Associated Press that “Mr. Lewandowski has not been contacted by the Justice Department regarding any investigation, and he denies any wrongdoing when he was proudly serving his country in a voluntary capacity.”
The Washington Sun reported this week that some open records requests from the department during Lewandowski’s time there were denied due to an ongoing criminal probe.
An investigation into a longtime Trump adviser would be a departure for the Justice Department, which has focused considerable efforts at investigating and attempting to prosecute longtime Trump political critics.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP.
