Overview
- Invoices shared with reporters list $20,000 for a horse rental and $3,781 for hair and makeup for the Mount Rushmore spot featuring Noem.
- Documents attributed to The Strategy Group show $286,137 in spending, including a $60,000 signing bonus and $107,405 in labor, plus tens of thousands for production vendors and other costs.
- The Strategy Group says it never had a DHS contract, describing itself as a subcontractor to Safe America and citing $226,137 in payments for five film shoots and dozens of ads.
- Sens. Peter Welch and Richard Blumenthal, who call the spending wasteful, have sought information from executives at People Who Think, The Strategy Group, and Safe America Media.
- The campaign’s cost and Noem’s claim that President Donald Trump approved it—an assertion he denied—preceded the announcement that she will leave DHS at month’s end, with Sen. Markwayne Mullin nominated to replace her.