Tens of hundreds of taxpayer {dollars} had been spent on expenses for hair and makeup artists and a horse for the advertisement showcasing outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in entrance of Mount Rushmore, in keeping with invoices seen by NCS.
Invoices to the Strategy Group, a DHS subcontractor that produced the commercial, present taxpayers footed a $20,000 invoice to a South Dakota-based barrel racer, together with practically $4,000 for hair and makeup providers. The invoices had been despatched by the subcontractor in response to a request from Sens. Peter Welch and Richard Blumenthal and shared with NCS on Monday.
Upon changing into DHS secretary final yr, Noem pledged to root out wasteful spending from her company. The secretary instituted strict cost-control efforts and tightened her grip on the purse strings of the nation’s federal catastrophe administration company.
But on the identical time, DHS spent exorbitant quantities of cash on promoting campaigns that featured Noem prominently, a part of a broader promoting effort by the division that price greater than $200 million. That spending was the premise of several questions she obtained from lawmakers throughout a pair of congressional hearings earlier this month.
Under questioning from Republican Sen. John Kennedy, Noem stated President Donald Trump authorized the spending. Trump denied doing so, and shortly after Noem made that declare, the president announced she would leave DHS by the tip of this month. Trump chosen Markwayne Mullin to exchange Noem, and the Oklahoma senator is headed towards an anticipated Senate affirmation vote as quickly as Monday night.
NCS has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for remark.
Invoices shared with NCS confirmed that the Strategy Group — whose CEO is the husband of Noem’s former prime spokesperson — accrued greater than $100,000 in labor prices, together with a $60,000 “signing bonus” to supply the ad. About $50,000 was spent on videography, images and manufacturing distributors.
“This looks like waste, fraud, and abuse to me,” Welch stated in an announcement. “While leading the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem and her senior team allowed tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to be spent on wasteful production costs, a shady signing bonus, and a very expensive horse — and that’s just what we know so far.”
NCS has reached out to the Strategy Group for remark. The firm has beforehand pushed back on the efforts of Welch and Blumenthal and accused them of mischaracterizing the spending on the ad.
The 60-second ad, which was filmed in October, reveals Noem driving a chestnut-colored horse whereas carrying a cowboy hat and chaps in entrance of Mount Rushmore. “Why do I love these wide-open spaces? They remind me of why our forefathers came here. Not just for its beauty, but for the freedom only America provides,” the previous South Dakota governor says in the ad.
The ad intersperses pivotal moments in American historical past with photographs of Trump, together with after his July 2024 assassination try. In a voiceover, Noem vows to guard Americans’ freedom and to arrest undocumented immigrants.
“But if you come here the right way,” she says towards the tip of the ad, “your American dream can be as big as these endless skies.”