The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Corey Lewandowski over accusations that he personally profited from his role as a top adviser to the Department of Homeland Security, according to two officials with knowledge of the situation.
The inquiry, one of the rare instances in which an ally or appointee of President Trump’s has been investigated for potential wrongdoing during his second term, is in response to a referral from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, those officials said.
It was not immediately clear what actions are under investigation.
A lawyer for Mr. Lewandowski forcefully pushed back against any suggestion of criminal activity. “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 lawyer, Adam Trigg, said in a statement.
Mr. Lewandowski, who served as Mr. Trump’s first campaign manager a decade ago, worked closely with Kristi Noem, the former homeland security secretary, but left after she was forced out in March.
The catalyst for Ms. Noem’s firing appeared to be her answers during two congressional hearings, particularly her under-threat-of-perjury statements that Mr. Trump had approved of tens of millions of dollars of government ads in which she was prominently featured.
Mr. Lewandowski wielded power far beyond the scope of his role as an unpaid adviser, serving as Ms. Noem’s top aide and confidant. He often hosted meetings in her office without her present, grilling agency officials and issuing orders as he flexed his vast influence over Mr. Trump’s efforts to detain and deport millions of immigrants.
While he joined the department early last year in what was supposed to be a limited, part-time role, Mr. Lewandowski, a longtime Republican operative, used his perch to build an expansive portfolio in which he had wide influence over personnel, contracts and department operations.
Mr. Lewandowski helped elevate Gregory Bovino, a midlevel leader of the U.S. Border Patrol, to a senior position commanding militarized deportation raids across the United States.
Mr. Bovino was forced out earlier this year after agents under his supervision killed two protesters in Minneapolis during an aggressive immigration sweep that he oversaw.
In the last hours of Ms. Noem’s tenure, her agency delivered a windfall to one of her political donors by buying five airplanes from the man’s firm at a substantial markup.
The Department of Homeland Security agreed to pay the donor’s firm $108 million for a Boeing 737 airliner that had been converted into a huge private jet, complete with a stand-up bar, two bedrooms, marble showers and a table covered in manta ray skin.
The firm, Daedalus Aviation Corporation, had bought the same plane a few months earlier from a seller who had asked for less than $90 million, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Alan Feuer, Maggie Haberman and Hamed Aleaziz contributed reporting.
