"On Oct. 2, the second day of the government shutdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived at Mount Rushmore to shoot a television ad. Sitting on horseback in chaps and a cowboy hat, Noem addressed the camera with a stern message for immigrants: "Break our laws, we'll punish you." Noem has hailed the more than $200 million, taxpayer-funded ad campaign as a crucial tool to stem illegal immigration."
"The Department of Homeland Security has kept at least one beneficiary of the nine-figure ad deal a secret, records and interviews show: a Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at DHS. The company running the Mount Rushmore shoot, called the Strategy Group, does not appear on public documents about the contract. The main recipient listed on the contracts is a mysterious Delaware company, which was created days before the deal was finalized."
"No firm has closer ties to Noem's political operation than the Strategy Group. It played a central role in her 2022 South Dakota gubernatorial campaign. Corey Lewandowski, her top adviser at DHS, has worked extensively with the firm. And the company's CEO is married to Noem's chief spokesperson at DHS, Tricia McLaughlin."
Kristi Noem filmed a Mount Rushmore television ad on the second day of a government shutdown, delivering a stern message to immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security launched a more than $200 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign and invoked a "national emergency" to bypass standard competitive bidding. DHS kept at least one beneficiary of the nine-figure contract secret, with the Mount Rushmore shoot attributed to the Strategy Group though the firm does not appear on public contract documents. The main listed recipient is a recently created Delaware company. The Strategy Group has deep personal and political ties to Noem and senior DHS aides.
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