The ad that got Kristi Noem fired: Her glammed-up cowboy cameo cost taxpayers more than $280,000

Ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spent thousands of dollars on hair, makeup and horses to shoot an ad backing deportations. The videos she shot in front of Mount Rushmore praising Donald Trump, American vision, and hitting out against illegal immigration show her riding horseback. According to details from CNN and The Daily Beast, more than $280,000 in taxpayer money was spent on these videos. The campaigns were part of a broader advertising effort by the department that cost more than $200 million. Last year, ProPublica also reported that a huge amount of money was spent by Noem on shooting these videos. “You cross the border illegally, we’ll find you. Break our laws, and we’ll punish you. Harm American citizens, there will be consequences," Noem says in the videos, dressed like a cowboy and sitting on a horse. According to financial records submitted by The Strategy Group, the production costs were billed to a company that was set up just eight days before it was given a $143 million federal contract.

The CEO of Strategy Group, a political consulting company, is married to Noem’s former DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin. The company that was set up is Safe America Media, and it used most of the money to buy TV airtime or spots on social media. Very little of the amount was actually spent on the ad itself. Senators Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) released details of the payments made under a subcontract issued to The Strategy Group Company. They stated that a “signing bonus” was given to the Strategy Group. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent on "a horse rental, hair and makeup services, more than $100,000 in labour costs and more than $40,000 in other vendor costs."

Also Read: Kristi Noem removed as secretary of Homeland Security; Trump appoints Markwayne Mullin as new DHS secretary

Breakdown of the money spent by Kristi Noem on horseback ads

$107,405 Labour costs to The Strategy Group Company

$60,000 “Signing bonus” to The Strategy Group Company

$52,599* Videography, photography, and production vendors

$20,000* Horse rentals

$3,781* Hair and makeup services

$500 Magic Makers, Inc., a magic store based in Sioux Falls, SD

$41,852 Other vendors

————

$286,137 Total cost

Senators criticise Noem for wasteful expenditure

“While leading the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem and her senior team allowed tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to be spent on wasteful production costs, a shady signing bonus, and a very expensive horse rental—and that’s just what we know so far," Senator Welch said. Earlier in March, the senators had requested documents and information from companies involved in producing and placing advertisements featuring Noem.