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DHS Assistant Secretary's Husband Benefited from a Multi-Million-Dollar DHS Advertising Contract
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tricia McLaughlin, the chief spokesperson for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, is named in official documents obtained by Public Citizen as the point person for a $220 million DHS anti-immigration advertising buy that, in part, went to her husband’s company.
McLaughlin is listed – as “Traci McLaughlin Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs” – on records filed with the FCC by a Fox Television Station as the DHS official for the sponsor of the anti-immigration ad campaign. McLaughlin is also listed on the DHS website as the top official in the office that contract documents show funded the ads.
...
In November, a ProPublica story revealed that The Strategy Group, an advertising agency run by McLaughlin’s husband CEO Ben Yoho, worked on one of the Noem ads filmed at Mount Rushmore. A series of photos on the official DHS Flickr account document the Mount Rushmore ad shoot in October 2025 and show top officials at Yoho’s company together with Noem at Mount Rushmore.
https://www.citizen.org/news/dhs-assistant-secretarys-husband-benefited-from-a-multi-million-dollar-dhs-advertising-contract/
McLaughlin is listed – as “Traci McLaughlin Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs” – on records filed with the FCC by a Fox Television Station as the DHS official for the sponsor of the anti-immigration ad campaign. McLaughlin is also listed on the DHS website as the top official in the office that contract documents show funded the ads.
...
In November, a ProPublica story revealed that The Strategy Group, an advertising agency run by McLaughlin’s husband CEO Ben Yoho, worked on one of the Noem ads filmed at Mount Rushmore. A series of photos on the official DHS Flickr account document the Mount Rushmore ad shoot in October 2025 and show top officials at Yoho’s company together with Noem at Mount Rushmore.
https://www.citizen.org/news/dhs-assistant-secretarys-husband-benefited-from-a-multi-million-dollar-dhs-advertising-contract/
The articles of impeachment that Robin Kelly introduced against Noem, mentioned in the article:
ARTICLE III: SELF-DEALING
(a) Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem has violated 5 CFR pt. 2635, Misuse of Position by using her position for personal gain while inappropriately using taxpayer dollars, when:
(1) Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem is using her position to circumvent the Federal contracting process and funneling Federal funds to her friends’ businesses. Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem used the cover of a national emergency to bypass the competitive bidding process and direct Federal dollars to close associates. Secretary Noem used taxpayer dollars to fund a $200 million ad campaign for recruiting ICE agents Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem used the “national emergency” declared at the southern border to bypass the normal contract process, which included competitive bidding, to award multi-million dollar contracts to republican-led ad agencies. One such contractor which was formed days prior to the award, subcontracted with the Strategy Group, a company run by the husband of senior DHS official, Tricia McLaughlin and a close friend of Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-resolution/996/text
(a) Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem has violated 5 CFR pt. 2635, Misuse of Position by using her position for personal gain while inappropriately using taxpayer dollars, when:
(1) Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem is using her position to circumvent the Federal contracting process and funneling Federal funds to her friends’ businesses. Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem used the cover of a national emergency to bypass the competitive bidding process and direct Federal dollars to close associates. Secretary Noem used taxpayer dollars to fund a $200 million ad campaign for recruiting ICE agents Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem used the “national emergency” declared at the southern border to bypass the normal contract process, which included competitive bidding, to award multi-million dollar contracts to republican-led ad agencies. One such contractor which was formed days prior to the award, subcontracted with the Strategy Group, a company run by the husband of senior DHS official, Tricia McLaughlin and a close friend of Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-resolution/996/text
