Maggie Hassan has urged Corey Lewandowski to preserve records from his time at the Department of Homeland Security, moving to put his work there under formal scrutiny as Democrats prepare to take control of Congress. She said the accusations against him remain serious and that she plans to use the committee’s power to investigate his role.
Hassan’s warning landed because Lewandowski is not a peripheral figure in the fight over Homeland Security. He had an outsized role as an adviser to Kristi Noem while she led the department, with wide influence over personnel, contracts and department operations. That breadth is why the allegations now hanging over him have become more than a personnel dispute: they go to how power was used inside an agency responsible for carrying out Donald J. Trump’s deportation drive.
In her message this week, Hassan said, “I intend to use the committee’s full authorities — including where necessary compulsory process — to expose corruption and waste,” a line that makes clear she is not asking politely anymore. She previously requested Lewandowski’s records, but his lawyers rejected the demand and said he had no legal obligation to comply at the time. This month, she called on him again to voluntarily work with her office and produce the records, a step that suggests the evidence she wants may already exist but has not been turned over.
The pressure is rising because the concerns around Lewandowski are not limited to Washington gossip. Homeland Security officials worried he was trying to enrich himself, and Hassan said she is concerned about accusations that he demanded personal financial compensation from government contractors in exchange for favorable contracts. NBC News reported in March that he had requested payments from GEO Group based on its business with the Department of Homeland Security, and the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation last month into accusations that he profited from his role. Adam Trigg has denied that Lewandowski did anything improper or illegal, and rejected the claim that he demanded payment from any potential or current government contractors.
Lewandowski has answered the scrutiny by saying he has “nothing to hide” and that he is “happy to have any conversations with anybody.” That is the line he is choosing to stand on even as Democrats prepare to have the majority when a new Congress is sworn in and gain the power to hold hearings and issue subpoenas. What Hassan still has not said publicly is the precise set of records she wants from him, but the scope of the allegations suggests they could show who had influence, who benefited, and whether his role at Homeland Security crossed a line that Congress intends to test in public.
