GOP-Linked Firms Took Millions From DHS Ad Campaign That Led to Noem’s Exit: Report

Two firms with ties to Republican political operatives received at least $23 million in commissions from a $220 million Department of Homeland Security advertising campaign that contributed to the removal of Secretary Kristi Noem, according to a recent report.

One company, Safe America Media, received at least $15.2 million after being formed just days before it was awarded a limited-bid contract tied to the campaign, the memo shows.

The firm was run by Republican operatives Mike McElwain and Patrick McCarthy, who have connections to a media-buying company involved in the president’s 2024 campaign, as Politico points out. A second firm, People Who Think, received at least $7.7 million through a 10 percent commission on part of the campaign. It was co-founded by Jay Connaughton, who previously worked on the president’s 2016 campaign.

According to the memo, the contracts were awarded under a “limited competition” process due to what officials described as an “urgent and compelling need.” The commissions—10 percent for international placements and 12 percent for domestic advertising—were below a cited industry norm of 15 percent. Even so, the scale of the campaign made it one of the most expensive federal marketing efforts in the past decade.

A lawyer for Safe America Media told Politico that the company “committed substantial resources to meet an accelerated timeline on budget” and disputed aspects of the reporting.

A ProPublica investigation from back in November had previously disclosed that a firm closely tied to Noem’s political network, the Strategy Group, produced a central advertisement in the campaign while not appearing in public contracting disclosures. Instead, another created entity was listed as the primary contractor.

Contracting experts said at the time that the arrangement could raise conflict-of-interest concerns. “It’s corrupt, is the word,” said Charles Tiefer, a former member of the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting, while another watchdog official said the matter warranted investigation into whether decisions were made “legally and without bias.”

The campaign itself became a point of contention within the administration and in Congress. Lawmakers from both parties questioned Noem during hearings, with some criticizing the ads as self-promotional. The issue escalated after Noem suggested during testimony that the president had approved the campaign to which he later responder: “I never knew anything about it.”

That discrepancy, along with broader scrutiny of the contracts and subcontracting arrangements, intensified pressure on Noem, eventually leading to her removal.

Originally published on Latin Times