In her November 19, 2025, opening remarks before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett accused U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem of funneling taxpayer dollars to political allies.
“Not only has Secretary Noem been busy filming propaganda ads,” Crockett said, “she’s also been busy cashing in on millions of taxpayer dollars. In fact, Secretary Noem has funneled millions of dollars to a company called the Strategy Group.”
According to Crockett, the Strategy Group helped Secretary Noem win her campaign to become the governor of South Dakota. Crockett added, “Corey Lewandowski, her top policy advisor, has worked with the firm. Meanwhile, the company’s CEO is married to Secretary Noem’s chief spokesperson, Mrs. Tricia McLaughlin.”
The Noem ProPublic report
Rep. Jasmine Crockett just dropped receipts: ProPublica reports Kristi Noem secretly funneled hundreds of millions in DHS funds to a consulting firm tied to her own campaign.
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) November 20, 2025
“This is what corruption looks like. They’re stealing money from the American people’s pockets and… pic.twitter.com/qZ1jM43JCz
Crockett’s remarks come in light of a recent investigation by ProPublica. In the article, the outlet documents troubling connections between Noem’s past campaign operations and federal contracting decisions. According to ProPublica, the firm in question, the Strategy Group, has “long-standing personal and business ties” to Noem.
As ProPublica reports, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded a high-profile ad campaign contract worth around $200 million. While doing so, they cited a “national emergency” at the border to bypass competitive bidding procedures.
The ProPublica investigation notes that while the contract did not name the Strategy Group directly, it identified Safe America Media, a Delaware-based company created just before the award, that acted as the prime contractor, with the Strategy Group serving as a subcontractor.
Noem’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign
As Crockett mentioned, the firm also played a prominent role in Noem’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign in South Dakota, and her advisor, Corey Lewandowski, has a history with the firm. The CEO of the Strategy Group, Ben Yoho, is married to Noem’s DHS spokesperson, which the report suggests raises questions of favoritism and conflicts of interest.
For her part, Crockett framed the situation succinctly: what she called “propaganda ads” and “cashing in” by a public servant turned campaigner. Her invocation of the millions of dollars aligns with the federal funds cited by ProPublica and other outlets. While exact figures tied to the Strategy Group’s subcontract work remain unclear, the contract itself is substantial.
Procurement experts quoted in the investigation described this as potentially one of the most egregious examples yet of federal contracting veering into political cronyism. “It’s corrupt, is the word,” one contract-law expert told ProPublica.
The stakes are high. As DHS secretary, Noem oversees a sprawling apparatus of federal spending and policymaking. An ad campaign of this size, awarded under the guise of emergency procurement, presents significant oversight risks and raises critical concerns about cronyism and the potential misappropriation of taxpayer funds into firms with intimate campaign-era ties. The oversight committee hearing and Crockett’s comments signal that the legislative branch is now probing those links more closely.
