DHS defends McLaughlin against allegations husband's company profited millions from ad contracts: 'Baseless'
EXCLUSIVE: Newly obtained financial statements shed light on claims that former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin’s husband’s company made millions from a DHS advertising campaign.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem faced intense questioning during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., specifically called out the agency for contracting a public relations firm headed by McLaughlin’s husband, Benjamin Yoho.
"I have personally reviewed the allegations against Ms. McLaughlin, and I find them to be baseless," DHS General Counsel James Percival told Fox News Digital. "Nothing illegal or unethical occurred with respect to these contracts. Ms. McLaughlin was not involved in selecting any subcontractors.
"She is, however, a superstar in the public affairs world, so I am not surprised that she married a successful businessman whose services were attractive to these outside firms."
Kennedy alleged that Yoho’s firm, The Strategy Group, "got most of the money" out of what the Louisiana Republican senator says was $220 million in "television advertisements that feature [Noem] prominently."
"I'm sorry," Kennedy said. "Safe America Media was a company formed 11 days before you picked them. And that the Strategy Group got most of the money. And the head of that is married to your former spokesperson."
"It's just hard for me to believe knowing the president as I do, that you said, 'Mr. President, here's some ads I've cut, and I'm going to spend $220 million running them,' that he would have agreed to that," Kennedy explained. "I don't think Russ Vought at OMB [Office of Management and Budget] would have agreed to that."
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The Strategy Group is a conservative advertising agency for which Yoho serves as CEO.
Figures obtained by Fox News Digital show a slightly lesser total advertising expenditure of approximately $185 million, with a total of roughly $146.5 million going to a campaign called "Save America."
However, of the total that went to "Save America," roughly $348,000 went to production costs, while the remaining $142 million went to "media buys."
Sources at DHS say that media buys are the cost of actually buying 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 Safe America Media’s recent founding was a cause for concern and collusion between McLaughlin and her husband’s business.
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"Yes they did," Noem responded during the hearing. "They went out to a competitive bid, and career officials at the department chose who would do those advertising commercials."
The Strategy Group posted to X Tuesday that it never had a contract with the department. While it did receive several hundred thousand dollars for production costs associated with the advertising campaigns, The Strategy Group never made millions.
"The Strategy Group has never had a contract with DHS," the post said. "We had a subcontract with Safe America [Media] for limited production services. Safe America paid us $226,137.17 total for 5 film shoots, 45 produced video advertisements and 6 produced radio advertisements.
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"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 publicly available.
Lauren Bis, who took up the role of assistant secretary once McLaughlin left office, told Fox News Digital Tuesday that scrutiny from Republicans and Democrats over the advertising spending was unjustified because the campaigns resulted in "the most successful ad campaign in U.S. history."
"Sanctuary politicians are attacking this ad campaign because it has been successful in CLOSING our borders and getting more than 2.2 million illegal aliens to LEAVE the U.S.," Bis said.
"The DHS domestic and international ad campaign was the most successful ad campaign in U.S. history. The results speak for themselves: 2.2 million illegal aliens self-deported, and we now have the most secure border in American history."
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Bis also compared the cost of arresting and deporting an illegal migrant to that of the minimal cost of an illegal migrant self-deporting. The department says the advertising campaign played a key role in marketing self-deportation.
A spokesperson at DHS also told Fox News Digital that contractors decide who they hire, fulfilling the terms of a contract, not the department itself.
"By law, DHS cannot and does not determine, control or weigh in on who contractors hire or use to fulfill the terms of the contract," a DHS spokesperson told Fox. "Those decisions are made by the contractor alone. We have only become aware of these companies because of this inquiry and did not hire those companies."
The spokesperson also noted that McLaughlin "recused herself" from interactions with subcontractors to avoid "any perceived appearance of impropriety."
"Upon hearing who the subcontractors were for production of the ad, Ms. McLaughlin recused herself from any interaction or engagement with any subcontractors to avoid any perceived appearance of impropriety," the spokesperson continued. "DHS Office of Public Affairs is the program officer. Ms. McLaughlin oversees the DHS Office of Public Affairs, which is simply the vehicle for this contract."
McLaughlin told Fox News Digital the criticism of her and her family by senators at the hearing is a matter of public manipulation.
"This is yet another example of politicians intentionally trying to dupe and manipulate the public to try to manufacture division and anger," McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. "The ad spend and contracts are a matter of public record, and the process was done by the book.
"These politicians would rather smear private citizens and American small businesses than do any basic research."