Dems Reveal Noem Spent Eye-Popping Amount on Horses, Hair and Makeup for DHS Ad: ‘Looks Like Waste, Fraud, and Abuse’

Senate Democrats on Monday released a set of figures detailing how much Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spent on an ad in which she starred.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced that Noem would be stepping down as DHS secretary and that Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) would be taking her place. That move came days after Noem faced an intense grilling during a Senate hearing on her department’s funding. One of the issues brought up the most by committee members was an ad campaign touting DHS’s deportation efforts. The department awarded more than $200 million in contracts for the campaign, and those contracts were given to firms with ties to Noem. This was flagged by many as a potential conflict of interest.

Although Noem admitted to knowing the recipients of the contracts, the parties involved have denied doing business with one another. Two weeks ago, Senators Peter Welch (D-VT) and Richard Blumental (D-CT) announced an investigation into the matter. The senators request a variety of materials related to the contracts.

On Monday, Welch and Blumenthal published a statement revealing they had received information on Noem’s pricey ad campaign. Included was a list of expenses for Noem’s ad filmed at Mount Rushmore. The expenses were as follows:

• $107,405 Labor costs to The Strategy Group Company
• $60,000 “Signing bonus” to The Strategy Group Company
• $52,599 Videography, photography, and production vendors
• $20,000 Horse rentals
• $3,781 Hair and makeup services
• $500 Magic Makers, Inc., a magic store based in Sioux Falls, SD
• $41,852 Other vendors

The expenses, the release continued, amounted to $286,137 “in taxpayer dollars.”

Welch called the ad “waste, fraud, and abuse.” The statement continued:

“This looks like waste, fraud, and abuse to me,” said Senator Welch. “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 rental—and that’s just what we know so far. All the companies involved in Noem’s ad campaign have an obligation to be transparent about how taxpayer funds were used, and if anyone at DHS benefited. I urge the companies DHS contracted and sub-contracted with to tell the public what they know.”

The senators also claimed in the letter that The Strategy Group Company — the firm that filmed the ads — provided only “partial responses” to the requests made in their previous letter.

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