New details have emerged about the taxpayer-funded ad campaign featuring ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem riding on horseback.
The $143 million ad campaign shows the 54-year-old Noem on horseback in front of Mount Rushmore praising President Donald Trump and warning undocumented migrants that her agents will deport them, but Democratic lawmakers are demanding records from the Ohio-based political consulting firm The Strategy Group about the no-bid contract inked with DHS, reported The Daily Beast.
"Now filings passed to the Daily Beast reveal the eye-watering cost of putting Noem on a horse and plastering makeup on her face," the website reported.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Peter Welch (D-VT) requested financial records from the company run by Ben Yoho, 38, who is married to Noem’s former DHS spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, 31, and the CEO told the senators that TSG billed Safe America Media $286,137, which includes $226,137 for production services for 45 video ads and six radio spots, as well as a $60,000 “signing bonus.”
"One line item that stands out is the $20,000 payment to Jill Moody, 60, a two-time Reserve World Champion barrel racer from Letcher, South Dakota, whose competition horse once won $260,000 in a single year," The Daily Beast reported, adding that a TSG representative said that covered the cost of a rental horse and associated expenses. "The hair and makeup tab runs to almost $3,800."
Noem paid $2,070.05 to Bombshell Beauty Makeup Studio, $600 to Beautiful Brush, $550 to stylist Abigail de Casanova and $561 to stylist Chaneese Rochelle Martin.
"The Safe America Media contract was one of two no-bid awards totaling $220 million made by Noem’s DHS — the other going to People Who Think LLC, a Louisiana-based Republican ad firm," The Beast reported.
Noem told lawmakers in a hearing earlier this month that Trump had signed off on the campaign, but he denied doing so after he fired her.