Maggie Hassan

Sarah Silibiger/Rebecca Blackwell/Reuters Democrats are putting Kristi Noem’s rumored lover Corey Lewandowski on notice over claims that he engaged in rampant corruption. Just weeks from taking control of Congress following their midterm landslide, Democrats are gearing up to drag President Donald Trump’s allies—and ex-allies—into a new era of congressional scrutiny. New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, who is poised to chair the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, informed Lewandowski, 53, in a letter this week that he would be a top target of Democrats’ investigations. “I intend to use the committee’s full authorities — including where necessary compulsory process — to expose corruption and waste,” Hassan, 68, wrote, telling Lewandowski to preserve his records from his time in the Trump administration. A longtime Trump loyalist, Lewandowski became a powerful behind-the-scenes figure in the first year of Trump’s second term as an adviser to Noem, 54, while she led the Department of Homeland Security. He amassed considerable influence over personnel decisions, contracts, and department operations, according to The New York Times , and his role in awarding government contracts in particular raised alarm among DHS officials. Hassan said she was troubled by allegations that Lewandowski sought personal payments from government contractors in return for steering lucrative deals their way. In March, shortly after Trump ousted both Noem and Lewandowski, NBC News reported that Lewandowski had sought payments from GEO Group , one of the nation’s largest private prison companies, in exchange for protecting and growing its contracts with the DHS, citing industry sources and a senior DHS Official. “When somebody in Corey Lewandowski’s position at Department of Homeland Security is holding up contracts or engaged in, as it is alleged, pay-to-play, this costs taxpayers money,” Hassan told the Times in an interview. Despite helping orchestrate Trump’s rise to power by serving as his first campaign manager in 2016, Lewandowski will likely find himself without the president’s protection as Democrats pursue investigations into his conduct. The Justice Department, led by Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche, is investigating Lewandowski over allegations that he profited from his position at the DHS. “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,” Trump, 80, told reporters last month. The DOJ’s investigation came to light after The Wall Street Journal reported in September that Lewandowski allegedly offered additional government services to Middle Eastern countries for his own financial gain and engaged in “shaking down” contractors seeking federal contracts for his own “kickbacks.” The investigation is the first publicly known example of Trump’s second-term DOJ probing someone close to the president’s inner circle. Lewandowski’s attorney, Adam Trigg, told the Daily Beast that L