DHS defends McLaughlin after claims husband’s firm profited millions from ads

Exclusive: Newly obtained financial statements highlight allegations that the husband of former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin The company made millions From an advertising campaign for the Department of Homeland Security.

Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem Facing intense questioning during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., specifically asked the agency to contract with a public relations firm headed by McLaughlin’s husband, Benjamin Yoho.

“I have personally reviewed the allegations against Ms. McLaughlin and find them to be baseless,” Department of Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival told Fox News Digital. “Nothing illegal or unethical occurred in connection with these contracts. Ms. McLaughlin was not involved in the selection of any subcontractors.

“However, she is a star in the world of public affairs, so I am not surprised that she married a successful businessman whose services were attractive to these outside companies.”

Newly obtained financial statements address allegations that former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin’s husband’s company improperly benefited from a multimillion-dollar Department of Homeland Security advertising campaign. Lawmakers pressed Secretary Kristi Noem about the contracts during a heated Senate hearing. (Jack Gruber/USA Today)

Kennedy claimed that Yoho’s company, The Strategy Group, “made most of the money” from what the Republican Louisiana senator says was $220 million from “TV ads featuring… [Noem] prominently.”

“I’m sorry,” Kennedy said. “Safe America Media is a company that was founded 11 days before you chose them. The strategy group got most of the money. Its president is married to your former spokesman.”

“It’s hard for me to believe that I know the president as well as I do, and that you said, ‘Mr. President, here are some ads that I cut, and I’m going to spend $220 million to run them,’ and that he would have agreed to that,” Kennedy explained. “I don’t think Ross Foote is at OMB [Office of Management and Budget] He would have agreed to that.”

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Senate scrutiny of the Department of Homeland Security’s ad campaign intensified after Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., questioned whether a company linked to McLaughlin’s husband had unfairly benefited. Department of Homeland Security officials and the company deny any wrongdoing or making millions of dollars in profits. (Andrew Harrier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Strategy Group is a conservative advertising agency where Yoho serves as CEO.

Figures obtained by Fox News Digital show slightly lower total ad spending of about $185 million, with a total of nearly $146.5 million going to a campaign called “Save America.”

However, of the total that went to Save America, approximately $348,000 went to production costs, while the remaining $142 million went to “media buys.”

Sources at DHS say media buys are the cost of actually purchasing the ads themselves, whether purchased from social media or for a TV ad.

Kennedy also alleged that the bidding process for the contracts never took place and that the recent establishment of Safe America Media was a cause of concern and collusion between McLaughlin and her husband’s businesses.

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Controversy has intensified over the Department of Homeland Security’s “Save America” ​​ad campaign, with senators challenging its costs and ties to contractors, even as agency officials described the initiative as a historic success in promoting self-deportation. (Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)

“Yes, they did,” Noem replied during the hearing. “They went to a competitive bid, and career officials at the ministry chose who would do these commercials.”

The Strategy Group posted to X Tuesday that it had no contract with the department at all. While it received several hundred thousand dollars for production costs associated with advertising campaigns, the strategy group never made millions.

“The Strategic Group did not have any contract with the Department of Homeland Security,” the post said. “We had a subcontract with Safe America [Media] PRODUCTION SERVICES LIMITED. Safe America paid us a total of $226,137.17 for 5 film shoots, 45 video spots produced, and 6 radio spots produced.

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Critics have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest in DHS’s high-dollar advertising efforts, but department representatives say McLaughlin withdrew and that subcontracting decisions were made independently. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magaña, File)

“If you’re going to try to question our integrity, bring actual evidence — we did,” the post concluded.

Because these ads were purchased using public funds, all contract totals are available to the public.

Loren Pace, who took over as assistant secretary once McLaughlin left office, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that scrutiny by Republicans and Democrats over ad spending was unwarranted because the campaigns resulted in “the most successful ad campaign in the history of the United States.”

“Sanctuary politicians are attacking this ad campaign because it has succeeded in closing our borders and getting over 2.2 million people. Illegal aliens to leave the United StatesPace said.

“The Department of Homeland Security’s domestic and international advertising campaign was the most successful in U.S. history. The results speak for themselves: 2.2 million illegal aliens have been deported, and we now have the most secure border in American history.”

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The Trump administration has reiterated that all illegal immigrants are eligible for deportation, as it focuses on arresting violent criminals first. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Pace also compared the cost of arresting and deporting an illegal immigrant to the minimum cost of self-deporting an illegal immigrant. The administration says the advertising campaign played a major role in marketing self-deportation.

A DHS spokesperson also told Fox News Digital that contractors decide who they hire and meet the terms of the contract, not the department itself.

“Under the law, DHS cannot determine, control, or weigh in on who hires or uses contractors to fulfill the terms of a contract.” Department of Homeland Security spokesman Fox said. “These decisions are made by the contractor alone. We only became aware of these companies because of this investigation and did not employ those companies.”

The spokesperson also noted that McLaughlin “removed herself” from dealing with subcontractors to avoid “any appearance of impropriety.”

The spokesperson continued: “Upon hearing about the subcontractors to produce the ad, Ms. McLaughlin distanced herself from any interaction or dealings with any subcontractors to avoid any appearance of impropriety.” “The DHS Office of Public Affairs is the program administrator. Ms. McLaughlin oversees the DHS Office of Public Affairs, which is simply the vehicle for this contract.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem takes her seat as she arrives to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that there has been criticism of her and her family before Senators at the hearing It is a matter of public manipulation.

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“This is another example of politicians deliberately trying to deceive and manipulate the public to try to create division and anger,” McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. “Advertising spending and contracts are a matter of public record, and this process has been done by the book.

“These politicians would rather discredit ordinary citizens and small American businesses than do any basic research.”

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.

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