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Former DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski ordered to preserve records by incoming Democrat on key Senate committee

Corey Lewandowski, chief advisor to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, following a news conference at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters in Washington, D.C,, Jan. 24, 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The incoming chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is warning former Department of Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski to preserve records, indicating she will probe his time at the agency.

"As incoming HSGAC Chair, I intend to use the Committee’s full authorities—including where necessary compulsory process—to expose corruption and waste. I therefore renew my request that you preserve all relevant records," Senator Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., wrote in a letter to Lewandowski obtained by ABC News. "Should any such records prove unavailable when the Committee requests them, the Committee will want to understand how, and when, that came to be."

Lewandowski has been a target for oversight for Democrats after he left his role earlier this year at DHS, where he served as what sources described as the de-facto chief of staff for former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. 

Justice Department prosecutors are also investigating the agency's contracting activities in the first year of the second Trump administration and scrutinizing Lewandowski, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News last month.

The investigation is in its early stages, sources said, and followed a referral to the department regarding Lewandowski's conduct from DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari.

“Mr. Lewandowski has not been contacted by the Justice Department regarding any investigation, and he denies any wrongdoing when he was proudly serving his country in a voluntary capacity," a lawyer for Lewandowski said in a post on X at the time.

Lewandowski has previously denied any wrongdoing.

A lawyer for Lewandowski did not respond to ABC News' request for comment about Hassan's letter sent on Tuesday.

Lewandowski's lawyers previously told the Committee that there was “no legal obligation” to comply with a similar letter Hassan sent in June when Democrats were in the minority.

"I was pleased to hear you say on talk radio this week that you knew that I was going to be Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC), that I would want to hear from you about your actions, and that you were 'happy to have any conversations with anybody' because you 'have nothing to hide,'" Hassan wrote in the new letter. "I look forward to having those conversations, on the record, under oath."

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