Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 03/10/2026 3:21:08 PM PDT by Miami Rebel
The husband of former Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin is under investigation over a campaign ad that heavily featured Secretary Kristi Noem.
Days before President Donald Trump’s decision to relieve her of her duties, Noem testified before Congress to discuss her department’s funding. During this hearing, multiple members of Congress grilled Noem on the $220 million that went to subcontractors to fund an ad campaign. The ads, starring Noem, largely focused on the department’s deportation efforts. Her alleged ties to the recipients of the contracts led to questions about potential conflicts of interest.
In a letter published Tuesday, Senators Peter Welch (D-VT) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced an investigation into Ben Yoho — McLaughlin’s husband. Yoho, as part of the firm Strategy Group, allegedly received part of a $143 million contract for the ad campaign. McLaughlin denied any wrongdoing after Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) grilled Noem about the issue at a hearing last week, ahead of her firing.
The letter read:
According to public reporting, the Strategy Group—and you yourself—have a long relationship with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and her Chief Advisor Corey Lewandowski. Secretary Noem confirmed at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3, 2026 that your firm managed the ad campaigns for her 2022 gubernatorial campaign. Mr. Lewandowski reportedly served as the intermediary that facilitated your company’s work on that campaign. In 2023, you attended then-Governor Noem’s inauguration and sat next to Mr. Lewandowski. Between 2023 to 2024, the Strategy Group was awarded an $8.5 million contract to produce a series of commercials starring then-Governor Noem pretending to perform various jobs. According to public reporting, Mr. Lewandowski also hired you to provide services for the press campaign to promote Secretary Noem’s memoir in 2024.9 Most recently, the Strategy Group received a subcontract from Safe America Media to help produce a DHS ad campaign while your wife, Tricia McLaughlin, served as the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs. And this week, Secretary Noem testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that she knows both you and your firm.
Despite your wife’s recent social media statement that neither you nor the Strategy Group “have ever had a contract with DHS,” the Strategy Group confirmed this week that it did receive a subcontract to work on the no-bid ad campaign awarded to Safe America Media, that it was paid $226,137.17 total for 5 film shoots, 45 produced video advertisements and 6 produced radio advertisements. It is not clear why Safe America Media, a company that was incorporated seven days before it received the $143 million contract, was awarded such a large sum on an uncompetitive basis to perform work it has no proven record of undertaking.
The senators then requested various documents from Yoho by Friday, including a copy of the contract, any invoices “connected to the DHS ad campaign,” and any communications he or his team may have had with DHS personnel.
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
I will care about this when the Dims speak out against the Minnesota welfare fraud.
Do you know that if Yoko Ono married Ben Yoho, she'd be Yoko Ono Yoho?
There was a congressman named Yoho up in Gainesville/Ocala till recently. Yo-ho-ho was what my friends called him. Good guy.
I don’t think you’ve ever posted an article critical of dems. Ever. Why is that?
How much of the money was for producing the ad vs buying air time? I figure air time would be the most expensive part.
I thought the results of the ad with Noem on the horse was brilliant. It made a strong case for the border jumpers to report their presence to Immigration and leave the country with money until their return is permitted. The DemonKKKrats know it; and are demonizing Kristi Noem, and those around her, with revenge.
Clinton Foundation, Obama founcation, Obama staffers on Netflix board, Clinton staffers given high ranking positions on CNN, ABC News, DisneyCorp... Heck, even Million Points of Light foundation.
Excuse me, I don’t find any ethical problems here except for the fact she works for Trump and isn’t part of the “family”
Sounds like something you'd call a pirate.
We’ve got both houses and the DOJ has come up empty.
I would say that unlike the scandals you mention, this one suggests federal dollars were funneled to an cabinet secretary’s buddy.
Exactly.
I beg to differ - “we” don’t hold the houses or the supreme court. Those scandals absolutely funneled federal dollars to political buddies, on both parties.
What’s REALLY different here?
True.
Those are great ads.
For those who can do 4th Grade arithmetic, the filming subcontract the husband of the DHS spokeswoman got was 1/700th of the total media contract.
Anybody ever done business again with someone whose work you liked? Idiotic Dems (and a few usual suspect FReeper fellow travelers) doing what they do.
They’re great ads if you’re selling Jeep Cherokees or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
And now they have to be scrapped.
My kind of humor. 👍
"I don’t think you’ve ever posted an article critical of dems. Ever. Why is that?"
No idea what you’re talking about.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.