‘Terribly Awkward!’ GOP Senator Scolds Kristi Noem for Dropping $220M On DHS Ads That Feature Her ‘Prominently’

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) scolded Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over a $220 million advertising campaign that features her image, pressing her on how the expenditure aligned with administration calls to curb government waste.

Noem appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday when Kennedy grilled her on whether President Donald Trump personally approved spending for the campaign last last year, expressing skepticism that he would as he also and claimed the contracted firm was run by her ex-spokesperson’s spouse.

“How do you square that concern for waste, which I share, with the fact that you have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently?” Kennedy began.

Noem defended the campaign as part of the president’s immigration agenda: “Sir, the president tasked me with getting the message out to the country, and to other countries where we were seeing the invasion come from. with putting commercials out that told them that if they were in this country illegally, that they needed to leave, or we would detain them and remove them, and they’d not get the chance to come back to America the right way.”

Kennedy pressed Noem repeatedly on whether Trump signed off in advance, to which she replied at one point: “We had that conversation, yes, before I was put in this position and sworn in and confirmed and since then as well.”

After circling the subject again, Noem told the senator that the advertisements had been “extremely effective.”

“Well, they were effective in your name recognition,” Kennedy countered. “I mean, I personally, to me, it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot. And I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth, 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. I don’t think Russ Vought at OMB would have agreed to that.”

The secretary also claimed that the creation of the advertisements “went out to a competitive bid.”

The senator, however, also challenged her on that process of selecting a contractor, citing his own research suggesting one firm was created just days before securing the work and noting reported ties to Noem’s former political circle.

Noem denied any role in selecting contractors.

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