More corruption with Trump’s people getting rich. What else is new?
Tricia McLaughlin, the mouthpiece of DHS, posted a private jet photo to her Instagram. It was recently revealed that her husband’s company won a subcontract on a non-competed $220M contract from DHS, in a deal described by experts as “corrupt” and “worthy of an investigation.” pic.twitter.com/r5WYMqBcff
— Jason Paladino (@jason_paladino) January 8, 2026
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. Her agency invoked the “national emergency” at the border as it awarded contracts for the campaign, bypassing the normal competitive bidding process designed to prevent waste and corruption.
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.
The Strategy Group’s ad work was the first known example of money flowing from Noem’s agency to businesses controlled by her allies and friends.
Link: https://t.co/zN5tWUEMfj
— Jason Paladino (@jason_paladino) January 8, 2026
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