At least three of Kristi Noem’s loyal staffers were axed after following their scandal-ridden boss to her new State Department gig when she was booted from the Department of Homeland Security, sources said. Three former DHS aides — Troup Hemenway, Josh King and Octavian Miller — were swiftly placed on paid leave after Noem was sacked as DHS secretary and appointed to the newly created role of special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a government insider told The Post. The trio was allegedly ousted over their ties to top DHS aide Corey Lewandowski, with whom Noem is rumored to be having an affair, and the fallout surrounding their former boss’s firing.
“They didn’t want any people that would be tentacles for Lewandowski,” the source said. Lewandowski was an unpaid special government employee at DHS, but would introduce himself as Noem’s chief of staff and reportedly wielded major power within the agency. The source said officials at Foggy Bottom weren’t keen to revisit the drama that plagued the married former South Dakota governor’s tenure at DHS, including her alleged years-long dalliance with Lewandowski and her controversial $220 million TV ads.
