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BumRushDaShow

(168,540 posts)
Sat Mar 7, 2026, 06:25 AM 4 hrs ago

Democrats are probing companies awarded a $220 million ad contract for ties to Noem, Lewandoski

Source: msn/NBC News

12h


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 say 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 in their letter 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 in 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.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrats-are-probing-companies-awarded-a-220-million-ad-contract-for-ties-to-noem-lewandoski/ar-AA1XGDel



Link to Senator Welch PRESS RELEASE - Welch, Blumenthal Demand Answers from Companies on Potential Corruption in $220 Million Taxpayer-Funded DHS Ad Campaign

Links to LETTERS (inquiries) (PDFs)

https://www.welch.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Letter-to-Safe-America-Media.pdf
https://www.welch.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Letter-to-The-Strategy-Group.pdf
https://www.welch.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Letter-to-People-Who-Think-LLC.pdf
8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Democrats are probing companies awarded a $220 million ad contract for ties to Noem, Lewandoski (Original Post) BumRushDaShow 4 hrs ago OP
Republicans believe we have money to make Emile 4 hrs ago #1
Just how much did her cos-play cowboy outfit cost? It looked all new to me. Botany 4 hrs ago #2
Yep, she's been spending money PatSeg 2 hrs ago #3
Pretty much every Trump cabinet secretary this term is doing the same Prairie Gates 2 hrs ago #5
Perhaps Rubio still has dreams PatSeg 1 hr ago #6
Rubio understands that it is difficult to get rid of evidence Prairie Gates 1 hr ago #7
That could be PatSeg 1 hr ago #8
Claw back every dime and put everyone involved in the federal penitentiary Prairie Gates 2 hrs ago #4

Emile

(41,909 posts)
1. Republicans believe we have money to make
Sat Mar 7, 2026, 07:01 AM
4 hrs ago

propaganda films, but no money to shore up social security, or money for our healthcare.

Only a complete idiot would vote for this shit!

Botany

(77,053 posts)
2. Just how much did her cos-play cowboy outfit cost? It looked all new to me.
Sat Mar 7, 2026, 07:11 AM
4 hrs ago

Hat @ least 500 $s
Saddle @ least 5,000 $s
Bridle & stuff @ least 500 $s
Chaps, jeans, shirt, & boots @ least 2,500 $s
Horse ??
Horse grooming prior to the video being shot @ least 1,000 $s


Guaranteed she already had the hat, clothes, boots, chaps, gear, and a horse too but what the hell
buy it all new. And no doubt Kristi got to keep it all.

PatSeg

(53,074 posts)
3. Yep, she's been spending money
Sat Mar 7, 2026, 09:16 AM
2 hrs ago

like a drunken sailor. We've seen such behavior before with republican appointees, but Kristi has to be the worst.

Did she really think no one would notice? Or that the free gravy train would last forever?

Prairie Gates

(7,857 posts)
5. Pretty much every Trump cabinet secretary this term is doing the same
Sat Mar 7, 2026, 09:20 AM
2 hrs ago

With the exception, maybe, of Rubio.

They're all crooked as the day is long. Don't look into the contracts at Labor too closely if you don't want to throw an aneurysm.

PatSeg

(53,074 posts)
6. Perhaps Rubio still has dreams
Sat Mar 7, 2026, 09:29 AM
1 hr ago

of being president one day.

Trump hires sleazy people, the type most likely to rip off the American people. Criminal types, much like him.

Prairie Gates

(7,857 posts)
7. Rubio understands that it is difficult to get rid of evidence
Sat Mar 7, 2026, 09:34 AM
1 hr ago

and is at least somewhat skeptical that MAGA can establish a permanent dictatorship.

That's probably all that's holding him back.

PatSeg

(53,074 posts)
8. That could be
Sat Mar 7, 2026, 09:40 AM
1 hr ago

He does seem to be saner and more rational than most of the people in Trump's orbit, which makes it harder to understand him going along with all this crazy crap.

Of course, there could be some blackmail on him. Trump and Putin use that a lot to keep people in line.

Prairie Gates

(7,857 posts)
4. Claw back every dime and put everyone involved in the federal penitentiary
Sat Mar 7, 2026, 09:19 AM
2 hrs ago

Might have to wait until after the accomplices in the West Wing have been deposed, though.

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