Three Democratic senators have requested that two companies preserve records of their communications with Corey Lewandowski following an NBC News report that the companies were allegedly asked to pay him as part of the contracting process with the Department of Homeland Security.
Sens. Adam Schiff, Peter Welch and Richard Blumenthal, the ranking member on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, asked Salus Worldwide Solutions and Geo Group to preserve “personal records, corporate records, and all communications with Mr. Lewandowski, any person representing or purporting to be acting on behalf of Mr. Lewandowski, or any consulting firms associated with Mr. Lewandowski.”
Geo Group is a private prison firm contracted by DHS to house undocumented immigrants. Salus won a contract to help the agency encourage self-deportations.
NBC News previously reported that a marketing firm was contacted by a representative for Salus, asking that the firm pay a portion of a potential contract to a consultant tied to Lewandowski, according to a person familiar with the discussions. As a special government employee at DHS, NBC News reported, Lewandowski directly solicited payment from George Zoley, the founder of GEO Group in exchange for protecting and growing its contracts with DHS, according to two industry sources.
It is not clear whether Lewandowski received any money from businesses contracting with the government; he has denied it.
Lewandowski’s spokesperson has denied the account of his interactions with GEO Group and called the allegations related to Salus “patently false.”
In their letter to the companies, the senators said: “As you likely know, multiple Committees of jurisdiction and Members of Congress are investigating whether federal spending by the Department of Homeland Security was subject to improper influence, corruption, or other violations of federal law, under Congress’s investigative and oversight authorities."
Earlier this week, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to GEO Group asking for details of meetings and conversations the private prison company had with Lewandowski.
The DHS inspector general launched a criminal investigation into the awarding of a $220 million contract for a department advertising campaign featuring then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, according to testimony by her successor, Markwayne Mullin, at his nomination hearing last week. That investigation has expanded and now includes a wider range of contracts, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Daily Mail was first to report the expansion of the investigation.
Spokespeople at the White House, DHS and GEO Group did not respond to requests for comment about the allegations that Lewandowski sought payment in exchange for contracts. A lawyer for Salus denied the accounts of the calls detailed in NBC News’ reporting as “entirely false,” saying, “Salus would never entertain this type of arrangement.”
Spokespeople for Salus and GEO Group did not immediately respond to questions about being asked to preserve their communication for the senators to investigate.
