Kristi Noem and the Mount Rushmore ad: the taxpayer-funded details behind a horseback image
On a day when the federal government was shut down, a camera crew filmed kristi noem on horseback in the shadow of Mount Rushmore—an image built for impact, now scrutinized line by line as new cost details emerge about the production behind the ads.
What do the newly disclosed filings say about Kristi Noem’s Mount Rushmore ad costs?
Financial records submitted in response to a request from Senators Peter Welch and Richard Blumenthal detail production expenses tied to the Mount Rushmore shoot and other ad work connected to a no-bid campaign. The records came from The Strategy Group (TSG), an Ohio-based political consulting firm, and describe what the firm billed to Safe America Media, the company that received the contract.
TSG CEO Ben Yoho told the senators that TSG billed Safe America Media $286, 137. The filing breaks that into $226, 137 for production services covering five film shoots that created 45 video ads and six radio spots, plus a $60, 000 “signing bonus. ”
Specific items in the records draw the clearest picture of the spend behind the on-camera image. One line item lists a $20, 000 payment to Jill Moody, identified as a two-time Reserve World Champion barrel racer from Letcher, South Dakota. A spokesperson for TSG said the payment represented rental of three horses, plus transportation and boarding over a two-day period in October of the prior year.
The hair and makeup total runs to almost $3, 800, spread across four entries: Bombshell Beauty Makeup Studio ($2, 070. 05), a business trading as Beautiful Brush ($600), Abigail de Casanova ($550), and Chaneese Rochelle Martin ($561). De Casanova is described as a Washington, D. C. -based union hairstylist and makeup artist with film and TV credits that include the HBO miniseries White House Plumbers.
Why is the spending drawing scrutiny, and who is asking questions?
The campaign has become mired in questions over who authorized the spending and who benefited from the $143 million that went to Safe America Media. The company is described as MAGA-linked and set up eight days before the award was made. The Mount Rushmore shoot itself took place on Oct. 2, 2025, described in the filings as the second day of the federal government shutdown.
In the ads, the Homeland Security Secretary, 54, appeared on horseback and delivered a message aimed at people in the country without correct papers: “We will find you, and we will deport you. ” The contrast between a cinematic setting and the bluntness of that line has helped fuel public debate over the campaign’s purpose and presentation—debate now intensified by the release of granular production costs.
The request that prompted the filings came from Senators Peter Welch and Richard Blumenthal. The records, as described, also land amid an internal disagreement over whether President Donald Trump signed off on the campaign, a point Kristi Noem claimed during a congressional hearing earlier in the month and that Trump later denied after firing her.
Questions also reach into the mechanics of how the work was arranged. Ben Yoho, 38, is married to Tricia McLaughlin, 31, described as Kristi Noem’s former DHS spokeswoman. McLaughlin said she recused herself after learning Yoho had been subcontracted. DHS has repeatedly said it has no say over subcontracting.
What explanations have been offered for the costs and contracting approach?
TSG said the hair and makeup spending covered five shoots and is in line with industry rates. On the $60, 000 “signing bonus, ” which TSG invoiced to Safe America Media on April 15, 2025—the same day as the firm’s first labor-hours bill—a spokesperson for the fee was standard for such a deal, particularly on a campaign executed so last-minute.
The spokesperson added that all costs for the campaign had been “fully documented and disclosed to Congress” to “address inaccuracies in public reporting and ensure the record accurately reflects the scope of our work. ”
The broader contracting structure is also part of the story. The Safe America Media contract was one of two no-bid awards totaling $220 million made by Kristi Noem’s DHS, with the other contract going to People Who Think LLC, described as a Louisiana-based Republican ad firm.
Back at Mount Rushmore, the horseback scene—built from rentals, styling, logistics, and production invoices—now reads differently. What was framed as a forceful piece of messaging has become a ledger of taxpayer-funded choices, and the unresolved question is no longer just what the ad said, but how decisions behind it were made and by whom: a question that follows kristi noem well beyond that single, carefully staged ride.
Image caption (alt text): kristi noem featured on horseback near Mount Rushmore in a taxpayer-funded ad shoot
