Firm At Center Of $200M Contract That Led To Noem Ouster Tied To Two Top Officials

The former Trump administration official who is centering a congressional campaign around her work for the ousted Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is employing the firm at the center of a scandal-plagued $200 million contract, which is run by the husband of another one of Noem’s top confidants.

Madison Sheahan, a junior political aide from Noem’s time as South Dakota governor who was installed as deputy director of ICE, is now running for congress in Ohio–while living with her parents–as the woman who oversaw “strategy and execution in support of border security” for the Trump administration.

Doing work on her campaign is the Strategy Group, CEO Ben Yoho told The Daily Wire. Yoho is married to Tricia McLaughlin, who The Daily Wire has learned was closely involved in the procurement process that led to her husband profiting off of a $200 million ad campaign.

A current DHS official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Wire that McLaughlin, the former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, had significant involvement in the procurement process, and is on emails about the vendor selection. That information is contrary to Noem’s testimony to Congress, when she said that the contract “went out to a competitive bid and career officials at the department chose who would do those advertising commercials.”

Noem was fired last week, in part over her handling of the $200 million ad campaign. She will leave her DHS post at the end of March.

McLaughlin acknowledged to The Daily Wire that she was part of a group of officials that heard presentations from each company that was considered for the work in February 2025. One of the successful firms later subcontracted to McLaughlin’s husband’s company, though they didn’t marry until August.

McLaughlin said DHS has no control over who a firm subcontracts with, and that she recused herself from any involvement after learning that it had subcontracted with her husband.

The admission by McLaughlin means that both portions of Noem’s testimony–that the contracts were competed and were chosen by career officials–were misleading. The Daily Wire previously reported that only three firms – approached by DHS in advance – were allowed to bid. DHS said it selected them by reviewing “websites” and “industry publications,” even though such reviews would have brought up little information about the firms, all of which were politically connected.

McLaughlin told The Daily Wire that the companies made pitches to “me and a group of officials.” A justification for departing from the practice of open bidding is signed by four people whose names are redacted. One, with the title “Program Office Representative,” might contain her signature, she said, since the ads fell under her department.

Two of the three companies received contracts. Safe America Media LLC, which was incorporated just days earlier, wound up subcontracting production work to the Strategy Group, McLaughlin’s husband’s firm. Strategy Group had also done Noem’s media as governor, after, Bloomberg reported, the firm was introduced to Noem by Corey Lewandowski, her top aide at DHS and rumored affair partner

McLaughlin said Safe America Media LLC was one of three that DHS asked to bid because the group of DHS officials knew it was run by Patrick McCarthy and Mike McElwain, who “are some of the best in the business, they’ve had a storied, illustrious career.”

“I was just one of the people involved,” she told The Daily Wire.

The second firm was People Who Think LLC, which had overlapped with Noem aides through a previous campaign in Louisiana for Gov. Jeff Landry. Lewandowski worked for the campaign, and Strategy Group ran ads for a PAC supporting his bid.

“People Who Think is a storied company. These people all went through presentations,” McLaughlin said. McLaughlin sent a statement from DHS General Counsel James Percival calling allegations against her baseless.

“I have personally reviewed the allegations against Ms. McLaughlin, and I find them to be baseless,” Percival said. “Nothing illegal or unethical occurred with respect to these contracts. Ms. McLaughlin was not involved in selecting any subcontractors.”

Sheahan also previously worked for Landry. The congressional hopeful graduated college in 2019 before working as then-Gov. Noem’s political director. From January 2024 to March 2025, she worked for Gov. Landry as Louisiana’s Secretary of Wildlife and Fisheries, or so-called “fish cop.”

An Ohio blog called The Rooster claimed that Sheahan’s appointment in the Landry administration was orchestrated by Lewandowski. It said after Louisiana fishermen were baffled by the pick, she cited her time on Ohio State’s rowing team as bona fides.

Noem then baffled Washington by picking Sheahan, who turned 28 that month, for one of the most important positions in the Trump administration’s signature effort to deport illegal immigrants. Sheahan mused to New York Magazine: “At the end of the day, what really makes anybody qualified for any job?””

Screenshot of Sheahan ad featuring Kristi Noem

Sheahan has been at the center of concerns about spending decisions at the department under Noem.

NBC News reported last week that Sheahan steered a second set of lucrative contracts – this time advertising to recruit ICE employees – to the same two firms. NBC said that Sheahan “threatened the job of an ICE employee for suggesting that the agency consider other contractors, according to internal communications. Sheahan said the contract award was ‘a decision made by the secretary,’ according to internal communications.”

In September 2025, the Associated Press photographed Noem, Sheahan, and Landry at a new ICE prison in the state, with Landry saying, “I’m proud to stand alongside Secretary Noem, General Bondi, Deputy Director Sheahan as we announce the opening of the Louisiana lockup, which will house the worst of the worst illegal criminal aliens.” ICE paid the state more than $1 million a month to use the facility.

The Washington Examiner reported this week that Sheahan, with the support of Lewandowski, had ICE purchase millions of dollars in vehicles wrapped in flashy DHS logos and slogans. The vehicles were purchased without competition, and couldn’t be used because ICE apprehends illegal immigrants by deploying unmarked vehicles, the report claimed.

DHS denied the vehicles weren’t being used in a statement to The Daily Wire: “Any allegation that these new vehicles are not being used is FALSE.”

“Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE finally has the resources to grow its workforce to support ICE’s mission, and that will include all types of additional vehicles,” the agency said. “These specific vehicles are supplementing the existing ICE fleet and support operations across the country.”

During the 2020 election, Sheahan was put in charge of a Wisconsin recount that wound up increasing Kamala Harris’ margin of victory, a GOP operative told The Daily Wire on condition of anonymity.

“She was walking around with a lot of self-importance without actually doing a whole lot,” the operative said. He said Sheahan was brought onto the Trump campaign by Clayton Henson, a Trump campaign regional director who, like McLaughlin and Sheahan, is an operative from Ohio.

Sheahan resigned from ICE in January to run for Congress in Ohio after, The Rooster claimed, Henson played a role in redistricting. She referred questions to a consultant, Bob Paduchik, who declined to speak on the record.