Over a year ago, George Zoley, the founder of The GEO Group, sought a meeting with Corey Lewandowski — a trusted Trump ally who had recently taken on an influential advisory role under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
As one of the private prison industry's most powerful players, GEO Group had much to gain from Trump's mass deportation agenda. The initiative was expected to require the federal government to pour tens of billions of dollars into transporting, detaining, monitoring, and removing undocumented immigrants — an area where the company already held over $1 billion in annual federal contracts, NBC News reports.
Can you say pay for play?
George Zoley, along with his advisers at GEO Group, grew increasingly concerned that winning or maintaining new government contracts with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now depended heavily on Corey Lewandowski's favor. Their tension dated back to a clash during the presidential transition period—after Donald Trump's election win in November 2024 but before his January 2025 inauguration—when Lewandowski was not yet in any official government role, according to two industry sources and one senior DHS official with direct knowledge of the situation.
At that time, Lewandowski reportedly informed Zoley that he expected compensation in return for safeguarding and expanding GEO Group's existing DHS contracts. Sources—including a senior DHS official and three individuals familiar with the conversation—described this as a direct demand. Zoley, uneasy about the ethical implications, firmly rejected the idea and refused to participate, with accounts characterizing the exchange as heated and confrontational.
Once the new administration took office, Lewandowski assumed an unpaid position as a "special government employee" at DHS. In that capacity, he provided advice to Secretary Kristi Noem, effectively serving as her de facto chief of staff, and—per multiple sources—played a significant role in shaping decisions on contract awards.
The outlet reports that, hoping to repair the damage from their earlier encounter, Zoley arranged a follow-up meeting with Lewandowski in late February or early March 2025, according to two industry sources familiar with the developments.
Via NBC News:
That second meeting did not go much better.
Zoley offered to put Lewandowski on retainer — a recurring consulting fee — with GEO Group, according to two industry sources familiar with the matter.
Lewandowski balked, saying he wanted to be compensated based on the company’s new or renewed contracts with DHS, the two sources said.
“He wanted payments — what some people would call a success fee,” said a person with knowledge of the meeting.
According to two sources, Zoley turned down Lewandowski's request. In the period that followed, two of GEO Group's federal contracts were reduced in duration, and a number of its facilities capable of holding migrants remain unused — despite Congress and the Trump administration having directed significant funding to DHS to carry out mass deportations. Someone familiar with GEO Group's leadership's views believes this was a consequence of the company's refusal to comply with Lewandowski's solicitations.
A senior DHS official informed NBC News that shortly after Lewandowski's second meeting with Zoley, Lewandowski instructed him to stop awarding contracts to GEO Group — an allegation Lewandowski denied through a spokesperson. However, that December, GEO Group was awarded a new $121 million contract to help DHS locate immigrants it seeks to detain or deport.
Lewandowski‘s spokesperson denied this account of his interactions with GEO Group. “This is absolutely false and did not happen — Mr. Lewandowski never demanded any payment or compensation from the Geo Group, at any time,” his representative said.
Asked whether he has ever received “any money from any of the contracts” he has signed off on, Lewandowski previously told NBC News in an interview, “zero, not one penny.”
Sure, Lewandowski is so credible (insert eyeroll emoji).
Now, lawmakers are asking about Lewandowski. Noem testified at a congressional hearing earlier this month in which lawmakers asked about her and Lewandowski’s role in government contracts. Trump called them both after and asked Lewandowski questions about his role in DHS contracting decisions, a source with knowledge of the call told NBC News.
Recently, Trump also asked aides whether Lewandowski profited personally from the advertising campaign, and, according to the outlet, at one point allegedly remarked to advisers, “Corey made out on that one.”
And holy shit:
And GEO Group and several other companies in government contracting have complained to officials in Trump’s inner circle that Lewandowski, as a special government employee, has directly or indirectly stood to personally profit from the DHS contracting process, according to four senior White House officials, a former White House official and a person familiar with the conversations.
One senior White House official raised the issue with Trump during an unrelated meeting in October, two current administration officials said, before the conversation was cut short by superseding business. And another senior White House official told NBC News they had received a “dozen” complaints from at least four companies about Lewandowski’s involvement in the contracting process during the second Trump administration.
So, Trump knew. And Noem likely knew what her side piece was doing. What a fucking hot mess. Drain the swamp, they said, then they filled it with swampy creatures. MAGA, right?
