Noem spent $20,000 on horse rental, $3,800 on hair and makeup for Mount Rushmore ad
Taxpayers spent over $200,000 on a promotional video featuring Kristi Noem, the recently dismissed Homeland Security Secretary, riding a horse around Mount Rushmore, according to disclosures from Democratic lawmakers on Monday.
The payments were part of a subcontract awarded to The Strategy Group Company, connected to a broader $220 million ad campaign Noem approved. The campaign aimed to encourage undocumented immigrants to leave the United States.
Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) criticized the spending after examining the invoices. “This looks like waste, fraud, and abuse to me,” he said. Documents shared with Welch and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) indicate the subcontractor spent $20,000 on horse rentals, $3,781 on hair and makeup, and $52,599 on videography, photography, and production services. Another $41,852 went to miscellaneous vendors.
The Strategy Group Company billed $107,405 in labor costs and included a $60,000 “signing bonus.” The invoices also show a $500 payment to a South Dakota magic shop.
Welch condemned the expenditures, saying, “While leading the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem and her senior team allowed tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to go toward unnecessary production costs, a questionable signing bonus, and a very expensive horse rental — and that’s just what we know so far.”
Blumenthal called the spending “completely unacceptable” and an “absurd waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer funds,” adding that he would continue seeking accountability for how the funds were used and whether any federal officials benefited personally from DHS contracts.
Safe America Media received a $143 million no-bid contract from DHS in February 2025 to produce and distribute the ads. ProPublica reported in November that the company incorporated in Delaware roughly a week before securing the deal.
The subcontract to The Strategy Group Company for Noem’s Mount Rushmore ad totaled more than $286,000. The ad highlighted the “American dream … as big as these endless skies” for immigrants entering legally, while promising deportation for those entering illegally.
The Strategy Group Company is led by Ben Yoho, husband of former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. The firm has emphasized that it never had a direct contract with DHS, and McLaughlin has stated that her husband is not affiliated with Safe America Media.
McLaughlin testified that President Trump personally approved the ad campaign. Yet, in a later interview with Reuters, Trump said he “never knew anything about it.” Shortly afterward, Noem was dismissed from her DHS role.
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