Senators press Kristi Noem about Cincinnati's Tricia McLaughlin

Erin Glynn

• Former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin is under congressional scrutiny regarding a potential conflict of interest.
• Her husband's company received money from a DHS ad campaign subcontractor.
• McLaughlin states she recused herself from the contracts and cannot dictate subcontractors.

Cincinnati-area native Tricia McLaughlin has left the Department of Homeland Security but not the scrutiny of Congress.

McLaughlin, the former assistant secretary and spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, was part of a line of questioning Secretary Kristi Noem faced during a congressional hearing this week.

McLaughlin's husband, political consultant Ben Yoho, is the CEO of the Strategy Group. In November, ProPublica reported that Yoho's business received money from a $220 million ad campaign for the Department of Homeland Security.

McLaughlin, a Sycamore High School grad, previously told The Enquirer that she recused herself from the contracts for the ad campaign and, by law, she could not dictate the subcontractors the department works with.

Safe America subcontracted with the Strategy Group

At the hearing, Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, showed a photo of Noem standing next to Yoho. Welch said the Department of Homeland Security subcontracted with Safe America, a company created 11 days before they got an award. That company then subcontracted with the Strategy Group.

"So your former assistant secretary and her husband are the ones who got the subcontract from Safe America. That's what the record shows, any dispute about that?" Welch asked Noem at the hearing.

Noem said no, there's no dispute. She said that career employees, not political appointees, made decisions about subcontractors.

Strategy group: We were paid $226,137

After the hearing, the Strategy Group posted that the company did not have a contract with the department but did have a subcontract with Safe America, the company created 11 days before the department's contract was awarded.

"Safe America paid us $226,137.17 total for 5 film shoots, 45 produced video advertisements and 6 produced radio advertisements," the company's statement on X said.

Tricia McLaughlin fires back on X

McLaughlin reposted the statement and tweeted at Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy, who expressed concern about government waste and asked Noem why the department spent $220 million for an ad campaign that featured her prominently.

"If you’re going to accuse someone of corruption you better have your facts straight," McLaughlin said in a post on X. "Do your basic homework and research before dragging my or my husband’s names through the mud."

McLaughlin repeated that her husband does not own Safe America and that the Strategy Group did not contract with the Department of Homeland Security. Reporting has focused on the possibility that Safe America was created as a shell company.

Regional politics reporter Erin Glynn can be reached at [email protected], @ee_glynn on X and @eringlynn on Bluesky.