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DHS defends McLaughlin against allegations husband’s company profited millions from ad contracts: ‘Baseless’
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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.»
Newly obtained financial statements address allegations that former Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin’s husband’s firm improperly profited from a multimillion-dollar DHS ad campaign. Lawmakers pressed Secretary Kristi Noem over the contracts during a heated Senate hearing. (Jack Gruber/USA Today)
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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Senate scrutiny intensified over a DHS advertising campaign after Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., questioned whether a firm linked to McLaughlin’s husband benefited unfairly. DHS officials and the company deny any wrongdoing or multimillion-dollar profits. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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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Debate over DHS’ «Save America» ad campaign intensified as senators challenged its costs and contractor ties, even as agency officials touted the initiative as a historic success in promoting self-deportation. (Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)
«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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Critics raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest in a high-dollar DHS advertising effort, but department representatives say McLaughlin recused herself and that subcontracting decisions were made independently. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
«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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The Trump administration reaffirmed that all illegal immigrants are eligible for deportations as they focus on arresting violent criminals first. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
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.»
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem takes her seat as she arrives to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
McLaughlin told Fox News Digital the criticism of her and her family by senators at the hearing is a matter of public manipulation.
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«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.»
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.Related Article
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A massive joint air campaign by the United States and Israel is dismantling Iran’s missile network in what officials and analysts describe as one of the most coordinated allied operations in modern warfare.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the campaign is rapidly establishing dominance over Iranian skies.
«Starting last night and to be completed in a few days … the two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies,» Hegseth said Wednesday. «Uncontested airspace.»
«We will fly all day, all night … flying over Tehran, flying over Iran, flying over their capital… Iranian leaders are looking up and seeing only U.S. and Israeli air power every minute of every day until we decide it’s over.»
U.S. Central Command released footage showing strikes on Iranian mobile missile launchers. (@CENTCOM via X)
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview Tuesday that «the cooperation between us and the American military is amazing. We have mutual planning and mutual executing for the plans in Iran and beyond.»
John Spencer, executive director of the Urban Warfare Institute, told Fox News Digital Israel effectively matched the U.S. military’s opening airpower surge.
«Israel matched the United States in the number of aircraft in the air,» Spencer said. «For Israel, that represents roughly 80% of its air force capability.»
He added that the level of coordination between Washington and Jerusalem represents a new model for allied warfare.
«This isn’t separate work,» Spencer said. «This is combined work. Integrated, synchronized operations combining powers.»
«In the past we’ve had coalitions of dozens of countries,» Spencer said. «But having a partner that is both willing and capable of bringing immense capabilities like this is very rare.»
Largest Israeli air operation in history
The Israeli campaign, known as Operation Roaring Lion, began with roughly 200 fighter jets launching the largest coordinated air operation in the history of the Israeli Air Force.
Within the first 24 hours of the campaign, Israeli fighter jets already had opened a corridor allowing sustained operations over Tehran, according to the Israeli military.
Israeli aircraft struck missile launch sites and air defense systems across western and central Iran in an opening wave targeting hundreds of sites simultaneously using intelligence gathered by Israel’s Intelligence Directorate and the CIA.
In the joint operation, Israeli aircraft dropped hundreds of munitions on approximately 500 targets, including missile launchers, command centers and air defense batteries.
The opening strike achieved a level of surprise rarely seen in modern warfare, according to Israeli intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder.
«In 40 seconds, we eliminated more than 40 of the most important people in Iran,» Binder said, referring to senior regime and military officials, including Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. «We are sending a clear message to our enemies — there is no place where we will not find them.»
IRAN’S SENIOR CLERICS ‘EXPOSED’ AFTER BUILDING STRIKE IN QOM, SUCCESSION CHOICE LOOMS
An Israeli fighter jet taking off to launched airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. (IDF)
Spencer said the strategy behind the opening strike represents a dramatic shift in modern warfare.
«What Israel did in this opening campaign just wasn’t imaginable in the history of war. It never happened,» he said. «To start off by cutting off the brain… usually you target the military first. Here they targeted the political and military leadership and had the ability to wipe them out in a matter of hours.»
Spencer, a veteran of the 2003 Iraq War, said the operation reflects advances in intelligence and strike capabilities.
«I was part of the invasion in 2003,» he said. «Something like this was unthinkable even 20 years ago.»
Massive strike campaign
An IDF spokesperson announced Wednesday what he described as a historic milestone: an Israeli Air Force F-35 fighter jet shot down an Iranian aircraft, marking the first time anywhere in the world that an F-35 has downed a manned aircraft and the first time in 40 years that an Israeli aircraft has shot down an enemy aircraft in combat.
Since the start of the operation, Israeli aircraft have carried out more than 1,600 sorties and deployed more than 5,000 munitions, according to figures released Wednesday.
The strikes have destroyed roughly 300 missile launchers and targeted more than 600 Iranian military infrastructure sites, according to the IDF.
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United States Air Force aircraft in a flyover to commemorate Israel’s 75th Independence Day in May, 2023. (IDF Press Office)
Destroying Iran’s missile threat
Israeli intelligence assessments before the operation indicated Iran was accelerating its ballistic missile production with plans to reach 8,000 missiles by 2027. At the start of the campaign, Israel estimated Iran possessed roughly 3,000 missiles.
The strikes already have prevented the production of at least 1,500 ballistic missiles while destroying hundreds already in Iran’s arsenal, according to the IDF.
Israeli officials say the missile program represented a direct threat not only to Israel but also to American forces and allies in the region.
«The possession of missiles by a regime that openly declares its intent to destroy the State of Israel constitutes an existential threat,» the IDF said.
A group of men inspects the ruins of a police station struck Monday amid the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)
Casualties
Six U.S. service members have been killed, and several others injured, during Operation Epic Fury.
In Israel, 13 civilians had been killed as of Wednesday night and more than 1,000 injured in Iranian missile and drone attacks launched in response to the operation, according to Israeli emergency services. The United Arab Emirates has reported three deaths and 68 injuries since the war started
Precise casualty figures in Iran remain difficult to verify. Media reports say dozens of senior Iranian commanders were killed in the opening phase of the campaign, along with additional military personnel and civilians following strikes on military facilities and infrastructure.
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A firefighter attempts to extinguish a burning car at the site of a direct hit from an Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 28, 2026. (Tomer Neuberg/AP Photo)
Fighting on multiple fronts
As the conflict expands beyond Iran, Israeli forces have struck more than 160 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in recent days. To sustain the multifront campaign, Israel has mobilized approximately 110,000 reservists.
«Wars are contests of will,» Spencer said. «Iran’s strategy is to break the will of the United States and Israel to continue the operation. The question is whether they can endure the pressure long enough to make that happen.»
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem forcefully defended her department’s immigration enforcement policies Wednesday before Democratic lawmakers — part of a heated and contentious House Oversight Committee hearing that, at times, grew deeply personal.
The hearing is the second in back-to-back DHS oversight hearings centered on the agency’s actions on immigration enforcement and Noem’s leadership of the department, and comes as members of Congress remain deadlocked on how to proceed with fully funding the sprawling federal agency.
Here are the top moments from the action-packed hearing.
Dems home in on Lewandowski, ‘blankies,’ and luxury jets
Some Democrats on the panel zeroed in on the responsibilities Corey Lewandowski has assumed as a special adviser for the Department of Homeland Security. Rep. Sydney Kalmager-Dove, D-Calif., cited a Wall Street Journal report from last month, that said Trump allegedly rejected Lewandowski’s request to be Noem’s chief of staff «due to reports of a romantic relationship» between the two.
Both Noem and Lewandowski have denied reports of an affair.
Kalmager-Dove asked Noem, point-blank, about the nature of their relationship. «This person has no experience running anything close to the Department of Homeland Security, or even advising someone in your position,» Kalmager-Dove said, noting his role as a special government employee has extended a «well beyond the allowed 130-day» period.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem takes her seat as she arrives to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. (AFP via Getty)
«He is unqualified, which has left my constituents and I wondering why he is your top official,» she added.
«So, Secretary Noem, at any time during your tenure as Director of Department of Homeland Security, have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?»
Noem turned to address House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan briefly before responding. «Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we’re going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today,» she said.
To Kalmager-Dove, she said: «Ma’am, one thing that I would tell you is that he is a special government employee who works for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government.»
Corey Lewandowski is seen before a House Intelligence Committee hearing. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
Raskin says Noem is ‘flying too close to the sun’
The panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., pressed Noem for details about Lewandowski’s role at DHS, though in the context of the question of DHS’s use of so-called «luxury jets.» Noem had defended use of the jets one day prior during Senate testimony, noting they were used for both executive travel and mass deportations.
Raskin said Wednesday that he had nearly been prepared to buy that story. «And then I heard about an airborne episode of entitlement, arrogance and contempt that I could hardly believe.»
«Apparently, when your special blanket — your blankie — was left on one of the government jets and not transported over the new one, your special government employee, Corey Lewandowski, chivalrous, stepped forward to fire the pilot, mid-air,» Raskin said.
«A 2003 Coast Guard Academy graduate and distinguished U.S. Coast Guard commanded … [who then] had to be rehired immediately because there was no one else who could fly the two of you on the rest of the journey back home,» Raskin said. «Secretary Noem, you’re flying high now, maybe even a little bit too close to the sun.»
The exchanges were markedly tense, largely due to the presence of Noem’s husband, who was sitting in the gallery for the duration of the hearing.
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DHS Secretary Kristi Noem testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Getty Images)
Swalwell, Noem showdown
Later in the hearing, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., confronted Noem about the case of Miguel Lopez, a migrant who had been living illegally in the U.S. for some 30 years prior to his deportation last year. Lopez is married to a U.S. resident. «I went and saw Miguel in Mexico,» Swalwell told Noem. «He doesn’t have a job … and it’s hard for him to communicate» after being away from his home country for roughly three decades.
Noemi interjected: «Did he have a criminal record?»
Swalwell acknowledged that Lopez had pleaded guilty to a «lesser nonviolent charge» in 1995, but asked Noem to recognize «the pain» caused by the administration’s broader deportation policy.
«The pain?» Noem responded. «And I wish people would do things correctly. If they’re not in legal status in this country, they can return home. We will pay for them to return home.»
As for Miguel, she said, «I hope he got the $2,600 he could have» by choosing to self-deport.
Federal agents forcibly detain an anti-ICE protester outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on Oct. 12, 2025, in Portland, Oregon. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty)
‘Worst of the Worst’
The sharpest exchange came when Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., pressed Noem on the Trump administration’s repeated pledge to target «the worst of the worst» offenders in its removal efforts.
«Tell me about the worst of the worst,» Cohen said.
Noem fired back: «The worst of the worst served. I think you’ve offended the families behind me today with that.»
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, left, and White House border czar Tom Homan speak with reporters at the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Cohen responded that he did not intend to offend anyone and said it was wrong for Noem to suggest he had. But Noem doubled down, arguing that critics were downplaying the consequences of illegal immigration.
«I was commenting on the fact that the individuals aren’t violent offenders, and you keep talking about the fact that these individuals that are in this country illegally don’t harm families,» she said.
Cohen noted that undocumented immigrants are statistically «less likely» than people born in the U.S. to commit crimes.
Noem then gestured to family members seated behind her, invoking stories of children lost to fentanyl overdoses and fatal car crashes involving undocumented drivers.
«The vast majority of these people behind me lost their children due to drugs, overdoses from drugs that came over the southern border,» Noem said. «They died from their kids being hit, accidents on the roads that illegal drivers were driving.»
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Cohen acknowledged the tragedies but argued they did not address his broader point. «All that’s true and given it’s true,» he said. «But you say you’re only going after the worst of the worst, and you’re not.»
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