WASHINGTON — The shocking pictures of Kristi Noem’s cross-dressing husband sporting comically large fake breasts have prompted a new parlor game in Washington — who was behind the story and why did they do it?
One theory among Republican strategists who know Noem is that she may have had a hand in the leak to the Daily Mail as part of a cynical play to rehabilitate her image after President Trump fired her as Homeland Security Secretary.
“I do think she could have leaked it,” one insider told The Post. Three others said they are not ruling out the possibility.
It’s all part of a comeback tour that she and her longtime adviser and lover Corey Lewandowski are plotting with one possible goal: winning the White House.
The shocking accusations that Byron Noem cross-dresses and chats online with fetish models was seen by some strategists as a ploy to help the duo overcome a series of controversies after their careers crashed and burned following a disastrous Senate hearing on March 3.
“I can’t help but think that Corey Lewandowski is trying to divert attention away from one scandal and set the stage for the Secretary to get a divorce and them to live happily ever after,” a source familiar with the pair told The Post.
Noem and Lewandowski did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Noem’s response to the story about her husband — who lives in South Dakota while she and Lewandowski reportedly co-habitate in the Coast Guard commandant’s residence on a Washington, DC, military base — was swift and succinct shortly after the news broke.
“Ms. Noem is devastated. The family was blindsided by this, and they ask for privacy and prayers at the time,” her spokesperson told The Post.
The Noems have been married for 34 years and have three grown children. Lewandowski has been married to Alison Hardy Lewandowski since 2005, and they share four kids.
But many Washington insiders are dubious that Noem — who was briefly in the conversation to be President Trump’s 2024 running-mate — has enough goodwill left with the public.
“I’m not sure that the ‘My husband is a cross dresser with a freaky fetish’ card is enough to garner the needed empathy,” the source said.
“Although I’d be lying if I didn’t say this would be a great story for the next ‘Love Story’ series.”
Noem and Lewandowski have long eyed the Oval Office, multiple Republican sources told The Post.
The salacious allegations about her husband Bryon’s double life could help that ambition by recasting Noem as the sympathetic, wronged wife, in the same mode of Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin, according to pals.
Both of Clinton and Abedin survived embarrassing revelations about their husbands’ love lives and went on to thrive.
(Notably, Noem has been battling reports she was stepping out on her husband since 2021.)
The former South Dakota governor’s aspiration for the highest office in the land goes back years and has an unlikely starting point: Kanye West.
The rapper called Noem personally to ask her to be his 2020 running-mate for his independent run.
And Lewandowski pushed her to say yes, sources said.
While she ultimately turned him down, Noem would spend the next six years working to burnish her national profile and forming ties to Trump’s powerful MAGA base — trying to lay the foundation for a presidential bid of her own.
Others warn the ploy could backfire. Hillary Clinton, for instance, successfully pivoted into the Senate, but the baggage she carried made her so unpopular that she lost the presidential election in 2016 — to Trump.
“The chicken has officially flown the coop on Kristi Noem ever being able to rehabilitate her reputation after this,” one insider who knows her said.
The person went on to say Noem’s “original sin” was the affair with Lewandowski, who is despised by many in the GOP establishment.
His saving grace has been his strong relationship with Trump.
“It’s not that she cheated on her husband and in such a public fashion, but she did it with someone who is universally reviled,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Lewandowski is standing by her side.
Here’s the latest on Kristi Noem’s husband’s bizarre ‘bimbofication’ fetish scandal
He’s playing the behind-the-scenes puppet master in negotiating the public relations nightmare for the politically ambitious Noem, sources tell The Post.
Publicly he was last seen with her last week when Noem ended her tenure at DHS on a defiant note, traveling to South America on a luxury government jet.
On that trip, she put away her “ICE Barbie” image of vests, guns, and heavy makeup, swapping it out for professional suits as she traveled to Dominican Republic, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guyana and Ecuador, where she was awarded the order of merit.
It was a familiar supporting role for Lewandowski, who occupied an unpaid but powerful role in the Department of Homeland Security when she served as secretary.
He lost the gig when Trump fired her, but that hasn’t driven the two apart, insiders say.
“He’s a survivor,” a top Republican strategist who knows them both well told The Post.
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