The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) only allowed four hand-picked companies to bid on a $200 million ad campaign, including a brand new company that later subcontracted the work to the spouse of a top department official, a document reviewed by The Daily Wire shows.
The records raise questions about the testimony by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to the Senate on Tuesday, in which she told senators that contracts for a television ad campaign starring herself “went out to a competitive bid and career officials at the department chose who would do those advertising commercials.”
Procurement records show that the anti-illegal immigration ad work was awarded using “other than full and open competition.” A justification for that decision says, “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), on behalf of the Office of DHS Public Affairs office intends to limit competition to three contractors.”
The competition waiver suggested the department used internet research and “industry publications” to identify Safe America Media LLC as one of only four companies capable of quickly doing a successful $200 million ad campaign, even though Safe America Media was only incorporated days earlier. A Google search brings up little web presence or industry publications about the firm.
“DHS reviewed industry publications, analyzed recent DHS initiatives, and evaluated vendors specializing in hyper-targeted media and advertising services. Targeted sources included government websites, industry articles, vendor platforms, and subject matter expertise. Given the immediate action to significantly reduce illegal immigration and border crossings, DHS identified four companies that specialize in domestic and international advertising campaign development, media buying, and media production. These companies are positioned, based on available resources and capabilities, to respond to this immediate need,” the justification said.
Three of those four companies “expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.” The first was Safe America Media, which ultimately got the contract, and which later subcontracted a portion of the work to Strategy Group. That company is run by Ben Yoho, the husband of Noem’s first Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin.
After Noem was grilled on Capitol Hill about the contracts, Strategy Group posted a response on X, confirming they were subcontracted through Safe America and were paid more than $200,000 for five film shoots and 51 advertisements.
Safe America Media LLC was registered by Mike McElwain, who has worked in the conservative ad industry through the firm DMM Media, though that firm also has little online presence.
Safe America Media LLC was incorporated in Delaware on February 6, 2025. The contract was awarded one week later, on February 13. That leaves just seven days for “government websites” and “industry publications” to have been written about the firm, to have led DHS to conclude that it was one of the only companies that could do the work, to approach the firm, and for it to write back with its interest.
People Who Think LLC, the second company suggested for the contract by DHS, is based in Louisiana and is linked to Innovative Advertising LLC. Its website is just an empty landing page. As of 2022, it had a federal tax lien against it, and as of 2020, it owed money to the Small Business Administration, according to a database of corporation records. The Daily Wire called for comment, but its number had been disconnected.
Its phone number is also shared by Innovative Politics, which lists as a client the Trump 2016 campaign and the Louisiana Attorney General campaign of Jeff Landry. Corey Lewandowski, a top Noem adviser, previously worked for Landry’s campaign.
The third company that was allowed to bid on the contract is redacted in the document, but The Daily Wire has learned that it is Knox Strategies, the firm of Erica Knight, a onetime spokeswoman for now-FBI Director Kash Patel. Knight is the only employee listed on the firm’s website, which does not list ad campaigns as one of its services. She did not return a request for comment.
Both Safe America Media LLC and People Who Think LLC were awarded lucrative open-ended “indefinite delivery” contracts, giving them the ability to keep getting additional work without new solicitations, up to $200 million, through February 2027.
In November 2025, that was modified to raise the ceiling to $240 million. Safe America Media LLC was paid $62 million for work beginning in February 2025, $15 million for work beginning in August 2025, and $65 million for work taking place from August 2025 to February 21, 2026. McLaughlin left the administration in February 2026.
People Who Think was paid $77 million, according to contract records, with the most recent tranche of $25 million covering from September 2025 to March 25, 2026.
The Daily Mail suggested that Noem and Lewandowski are having an affair, saying that they had apartments across the street from each other and that it observed Lewandowski emerging from her apartment. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) asked Noem during a hearing Wednesday if she had sexual relations with Lewandowski. She did not directly answer the question.
.@RepKamlagerDove: “Secretary Noem, at any time during your tenure…have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?”
Noem: “That is garbage and it is offensive that you have brought that up.”
Kamlager-Dove: “It is about your judgment and decision-making.” pic.twitter.com/H7pQywH3g7
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 4, 2026
Lewandowski has volunteered as a Special Government Employee, a classification that allows people to work in government for 130 days a year without abiding by the financial conflict rules that apply to traditional government employees. The Wall Street Journal said Lewandowski wanted to serve as Noem’s chief of staff, but that Trump “rejected the idea due to reports of a romantic relationship between the two.” DHS’s leadership webpage currently lists no chief of staff.
President Trump is considering replacing Noem for dishonesty in telling Congress that he personally greenlit spending hundreds of millions on ads starring herself, The National Review reported Thursday. The procurement document, in conjunction with her answers in her testimony, could make that problem worse for Noem.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told reporters Thursday that he spoke to Trump about Noem’s testimony, and that “his recollection and her recollection are different.”
Noem told Congress that no political appointees were involved in the ad campaign procurement process. Four people signed the document limiting competition, but their names are redacted.
Yet Noem has also said she personally approves all large expenditures, and told the Senate, “I have a policy in place that I review contracts … My deputy chiefs have the ability to review anything under five million; above that, I evaluate.”
McLaughlin’s replacement as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Lauren Bis, reiterated that the government is not in control of who a contractor subcontracts with, and said the ads were money well-spent. “This hyper-targeted ad campaign ran in eight countries and reached over 46 million people. The results show the world heard our message that America’s borders are CLOSED,” she wrote.
The action to direct hundreds of millions of dollars was taken just days after the Trump administration took office, in February 2025. “Government would be seriously injured unless the executive agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals,” the justification said. “The immediate action supported by this authority is in response to a national emergency declaration.”
On Tuesday, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) grilled Noem about the contracts, saying the ads warning illegal immigrants to leave the country — some of which ran on Fox News, and which starred Noem personally — were a costly exercise in personal brand-building.
“They were effective in your name recognition … to me it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot,” he said. “The head of that [firm] is married to your former spokesperson… A fifth to a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money when we’re scratching for every penny.”
The majority of money in ad buys passes through to TV stations that run the ads. Subcontracts are not reported in public records, but the Strategy Group — which previously worked for Noem’s gubernatorial campaign in South Dakota — said this week that “Safe America paid us $226,137.17 total for 5 film shoots, 45 produced video advertisements, and 6 produced radio advertisements.” Its CEO, Ben Yoho, declined to comment.
