Democratic senators are probing the three businesses that received a $220 million ad contract featuring outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, asking whether Noem, her senior adviser Corey Lewandowski, or any other DHS employee financially benefited from the agreements, according to letters obtained by NBC News.
Sens. Peter Welch and Richard Blumenthal, who is the ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent letters on Friday to Safe America Media, People Who Think, and the Strategy Group, a subcontractor associated with the agreement. The Strategy Group is run by Ben Yoho, the husband of former DHS press secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
In their letters, the senators said that Safe America Media "signed a no-bid contract worth $143 million" and that the Strategy Group was subcontracted as a part of that agreement. The lawmakers also said People Who Think was awarded a $77 million no-bid contract.
Questions about the rush of contracts to vendors outside of the traditional competitive bidding process began to circulate in 2025 and came to a head during Noem’s hearings this week before House and Senate committees.
On Thursday, President Trump announced he had fired Noem, who would leave her role effective March 31 and be replaced by the Republican senator from Oklahoma Markwayne Mullin.
Shortly after her ouster, an administration official told NBC News that the ad campaign was one of the reasons Trump decided to remove her from her position.
The administration official said the move was “a culmination of her many unfortunate leadership failures including the fallout in Minnesota, the ad campaign,” as well as “mismanagement of her staff, and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE.”
Trump told NBC News on Thursday that he was not pleased with the price tag on the ad campaign, which Noem said at the hearing the president knew about.
“I wasn’t thrilled with it. I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it,” Trump said.
The letters from Welch and Blumenthal attributed their concerns about possible financial ties between Lewandowski and Noem to public reporting, including a November article from Pro Publica about the connections between the ad contracts and a firm with ties to Noem. The lawmakers have asked the companies for copies of their agreements, lists of subcontractors, and whether they had contractual, lobbying or other agreements with Lewandowski.
They also inquired whether the companies “directly or indirectly compensate — financially or otherwise — any DHS personnel, including but not limited to Special Government Employees, in connection with the DHS ad campaign.” Lewandowski has served as Noem’s adviser in a "special government employee" role.
The senators may not compel answers or testimony from the companies given that the Democrats are not in control of the Senate.
NBC News reported that Noem also handpicked People Who Think and Safe America Media to work on a $100 million ICE recruitment campaign, and that an employee who raised concerns was threatened with firing.
Spokespeople for the White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to comment on the senators’ questions about whether Lewandowski or other DHS employees financially benefited from the contracts.
