Overview
- Invoices shared with senators Monday listed $286,137 in production costs for the Noem spot, including $20,000 for a horse rental, $3,781 for hair and makeup, a $60,000 signing bonus, $107,405 in labor, and $52,599 for photography and production vendors.
- The Strategy Group billed the costs as a subcontractor to Safe America Media rather than contracting with DHS directly, and DHS said it does not control which firms prime contractors hire.
- Senators Peter Welch and Richard Blumenthal called the spending wasteful and pressed involved companies for records, citing a $500 payment to a South Dakota magic store as they widened their document requests.
- Conflict-of-interest questions deepened because The Strategy Group’s CEO is married to Noem’s former DHS spokesperson, while the firm said it had no DHS contract and described the signing bonus as standard.
- The disclosures followed hearings where Noem said President Trump approved the ad spending and he denied it, and the Senate on Monday confirmed Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her as head of DHS after a broader ad program reported at roughly $220 million drew bipartisan scrutiny.