Have a special MAGA birthday that could use a little star power? Need a conservative influencer for your HVAC business? Perhaps a Homeland Security advisor to facilitate your child’s potty training?
Corey Lewandowski is your guy.
President Donald Trump’s longtime loyalist is being paid by private companies and individuals to make video messages even as he wields unprecedented influence inside the Department of Homeland Security alongside his rumored lover, Kristi Noem.
As Border Patrol and TSA agents worked without pay amid the longest government shutdown in US history, Lewandowski was moonlighting as a pitchman on Cameo from businesses willing to shell out upwards of $500 per video, according to information listed on Lewandowski’s online account.
Cameo is an online service where users pay celebrities and political figures to record personalized video messages for individuals or businesses.
Lewandowski’s last recorded paid video was sent out on Halloween, as more than one million federal employees went without pay, according to his Cameo account. He serves at the Department of Homeland Security without a formal title as a ‘special government employee,’ a designation that has led to him not disclosing his finances while working inside the Trump administration.
In one video from June 2025, Lewandowski wears what appears to be an official government jacket bearing the presidential seal and stating ‘Presidential Retreat. Camp David,’ as he wishes one boy a very special happy birthday.
‘Hey this message is for Owen, this is Corey Lewandowski,’ Noem’s de-facto chief of staff says in a mildly excited tone, standing in front of a framed picture of an eyeball.
As Department of Homeland Security employees went without pay during a government shutdown, Lewandowski was moonlighting as a pitchman on Cameo from businesses willing to shell out upwards of $500 per video
Lewandowski wields unprecedented power within the DHS as a special government employee due to his relationship with Secretary Kristi Noem
Cameo is an online service where users pay celebrities and political figures to record personalized video messages for individuals or businesses. Lewandowski charges up to $500 for a marketing video
‘You know me as president Trump’s campaign manager probably in 2016 when we won that amazing race,’ Lewandowski adds. ‘I also was the senior advisor for the 2024 race. Listen Diane reached out to me and told me it’s your birthday. So I wanted to call and just wish you a very special happy birthday.’
Lewandowski received a five-star review for that posting from user Diana Sani on June 21, 2025 stating ‘Thank you so much! God bless you!’
Trump met with military leaders and top Cabinet officials at Camp David two weeks earlier to discuss a federal response to anti-immigration enforcement riots in Los Angeles.
While Lewandowski is visibly wearing a Camp David jacket, it is unclear whether he attended the meeting in rural Maryland or whether the video itself was filmed there.
Lewandowski’s online activity promoting his connections to the President has raised alarm among some officials within Homeland Security.
‘Since he’s a SGE, the code of federal regulations doesn’t require him to get authorization for outside employment,’ A DHS official told the Daily Mail. ‘However, since he’s using his access to POTUS it may be a Hatch act violation. The optics don’t look good at all.’
The Hatch Act is a federal law restricting government employees from engaging in partisan political activities while on duty.
‘Corey is firing federal employees, signing off on billions in contracts, sitting in on classified meetings, and running operations across the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, all while maintaining what amounts to a public tender offer on his own credibility,’ A State Department official told the Daily Mail.
‘There’s no issue with Cameo itself, only the sheer institutional recklessness of us allowing someone with his level of access to operate an unmonitored, for-hire communications channel for at least eight months without a single person in the chain of command raising a flag.’
The State official goes on to explain that Lewandowski’s activities on Cameo may pose ‘a serious counterintelligence risk’ because the website allows anonymous users to submit custom instructions to him.
‘A foreign intelligence service, or companies anywhere in the world, could test messaging, insert language, probe for sensitive details, or quietly establish a communication pattern with a senior DHS official. For fifty dollars, no questions asked. For five hundred, he’ll effectively tout your product, your company, your existence with commercial rights to use it however you want.’
‘This guy exercises more authority than most Senate-confirmed officials. He’s operating well beyond anything the SGE designation was designed to accommodate,’ the State official added. ‘DHS isn’t a gig economy platform. National security isn’t pay per view either.’
The Daily Mail reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Lewandowski is visibly wearing a Camp David jacket in one video from June 2025. It is unclear whether he attended Trump’s meeting at Camp David on June 8 or whether the video itself was filmed there
Lewandowski joined Cameo in 2019 where he advertises himself as ‘TV Commentator, Campaign Manager Donald J. Trump for President 2016′
Under Noem’s leadership, Lewandowski has been granted unregulated control over Trump’s mass deportation agenda. His tenure has been marked by allegations of corruption over his refusal to publicly disclose his finances.
Lewandowski controls approving all six-figure contracts at DHS, despite falling outside of the official chain of command with no formal title inside the agency.
He joined Cameo in 2019 where he advertises himself as ‘TV Commentator, Campaign Manager Donald J. Trump for President 2016, 2X NYTimes Best Selling Author. Senior Advisor Trump/Pence 2020/2024.’
At the time, Lewandowski announced the revenue from the first 45 Cameo requests would be donated to the families of fallen military and law enforcement officers.
Lewandowski told the Daily Mail on Sunday evening that his Cameo videos were intended to raise money for charity.
‘Go back and look at my first cameo. I said I would donate the money to charity,’ Lewandowski wrote in an email. ‘Do you have issues with donating money to charities??’
When asked by the Daily Mail which charity or charities had received the revenue generated from his Cameo videos since joining Homeland Security, Lewandowski did not respond.
Lewandowski’s Cameo biography reads: ‘Customers frequently request Corey to roast their liberal friends, wish conservative-leaning loved ones a happy birthday, and encourage fellow patriots to keep fighting for the America First agenda. With his no-nonsense attitude and unwavering support for the 45th President, a Corey Cameo is sure to get any MAGA loyalist fired up.’
The account also claims that Lewandowski delivers his videos within 24 hours.
Six videos are currently promoted on his Cameo page, including one from October 2024 when Lewandowski did a paid video advertisement for an HVAC company called Air Scientist Solutions in Tennessee.
The company’s CEO Donny Case gave Lewandowski a five star review for the video by noting he was ‘professional and above expectations in every way.’
‘I’m here to talk about an amazing person, Donny Case,’ Lewandowski gushes. ‘Now let me tell you, before you know anything about him, that he has invented, founded and started an incredible company because the American spirit always finds ways to overcome.
‘Smart air technology currently makes global news and this can only be attributed to the hard work of guys like Donny and all the great people at this fantastic company,’ he adds. ‘So go out, use this product, it will save you money.’
The total amount Lewandowski has earned from paid marketing videos on Cameo since the start of the Trump administration remains unknown
Lewandowski charges companies and individuals $500 for all marketing videos along with an additional $50 service charge.
The total amount Lewandowski has earned from paid marketing videos on Cameo since the start of the Trump administration remains unknown.
His status as a special government employee, which was granted by Noem, allows him to earn private-sector income so long as it does not conflict with his government role.
Some of Lewandowski’s videos have been downright bizarre.
In 2020, one man identifying himself as Dicky Stock paid Lewandowski to produce a customized toilet-training encouragement video for his child called ‘Mickey.’
‘Hey this message is for Mickey. Mickey, your daddy Papa Dickey reached out to me and told me that you’re toilet training,’ Lewandowski says in the 2020 Cameo video. You must be a very special little boy. But I hear that you’re starting to use the big boy toilet. So congratulations!’
‘You’re doing a great job with your poopies. Congratulations. I know your mom is going to be so happy and I want to thank you in advance for being a Donald Trump supporter when you get older. All the best from your daddy, Papa Dickey.’
However, it turned out there was no Mickey. A Boston-based comedian, who got an unwitting Lewandowski to make the video, would later laugh that he was able to punk the Trump loyalist.
As Lewandowski continued collecting checks from Cameo, the embattled Trump loyalist found himself at the center of multiple controversies inside DHS. Sources say Lewandowski and Noem are locked in a bitter feud with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan over how to enforce the President’s mass deportation agenda.
The behind-the-scenes MAGA power struggle has deepened divisions within Homeland Security, pitting officials aligned with Noem against those loyal to Homan.
The Daily Mail reported in December that Lewandowski had pressured ICE officials to provide him a badge and gun – going so far as to demand it while interviewing a potential ICE director candidate early last year.
