The top executive of a public relations and political consulting firm who is married to a former top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson, is demanding an apology from Senate Democrats for allegations he used his wife to improperly secure lucrative contracts from the agency.<\/p>\n
In a letter Thursday addressed to Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Benjamin Yoho took aim at a figure mentioned by Sen. Adam Schiff,<\/a> D-Calif., claiming his company, The Strategy Group for Media, had secured $143 million in subcontracts.<\/p>\n Yoho clarified that The Strategy Group for Media had been hired for media work at DHS,<\/a> but not to the degree Schiff had outlined.<\/p>\n “We provided limited production services, for which we received $226,137.17 for video and audio production, a sum representing approximately one-tenth of one percent of the contract value [Schiff] referenced,” Yoho wrote in his letter.<\/p>\n HAKEEM JEFFRIES SAYS DEMS WILL NOT BACK FUNDING BILL FOR ‘KILLING MACHINE’ DHS EVEN IF NOEM IS FIRED<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n He also noted that the services didn\u2019t directly go to DHS.<\/p>\n “The facts are The Strategy Group for Media was hired by Safe America Media LLC to serve as a subcontractor to them for production work,” Yoho explained, referring to a separate company partnering with the agency.<\/p>\n Yoho is married to Tricia McLaughlin, the former assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS who left her job last month.<\/p>\n DHS DEFENDS MCLAUGHLIN AFTER ALLEGATIONS HUSBAND’S COMPANY PROFITED MILLIONS FROM AD CONTRACTS: ‘BASELESS’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The pair\u2019s connection to DHS came under scrutiny in the Senate when former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was probed by lawmakers about a $220 million ad campaign<\/a> she had used to highlight the agency\u2019s work. Democrats like Schiff hinted that some of that $220 million figure had ended up lining the pockets of those with close ties to the agency.<\/p>\n HOUSE GOP LEADER LAUNCHES SENATE BID AS TRUMP TAPS MARKWAYNE MULLIN FOR DHS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “This statement is factually incorrect, and I respectfully request that you have your colleague correct the official record and issue an apology,” Yoho wrote.<\/p>\n Noem was removed as head of DHS shortly after President Donald Trump<\/a> learned she told senators that he had approved the $220 million DHS ad campaign that featured her prominently throughout.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reports surfaced after the hearings saying that Trump was “furious” with Noem over her performance in bicameral Judiciary Committee hearings earlier this month, particularly over a contract for an advertisement<\/u><\/a> that Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and others grilled her on.<\/p>\n Trump reportedly took issue with her suggesting to Kennedy that Trump approved a taxpayer-funded ad subcontracted to a firm connected with her inner circle, according to National Review.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Peter Welch, D-Vt., for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The top executive of a public relations and political consulting firm who is married to a former top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson, is demanding an apology from Senate Democrats for allegations he used his wife to improperly secure lucrative contracts from the agency. In a letter Thursday addressed to Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt., … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}