Secretary of Homeland Security is a thing of the past for the Trump administration,
The secretary, who will serve as “special envoy” for Latin America, will be replaced on March 31 by Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, Trump said.
According to US media, Trump made this decision following two congressional testimony by Christy Noem, in which she was heavily attacked by both Democratic and Republican senators and congressmen over the awarding of an advertising campaign worth more than $200 million.
On the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Rep. Joe Negus called it a “fraud” and said someone should be held accountable for the case. The ministry spent $220 million after previously narrowing the competition for the contract to just four companies, citing the “urgent need” to stop irregular immigration.
The commercials that were aired mainly featured Noem. Among other things, the minister was filmed on her farm in South Dakota, riding a horse on Mount Rushmore.
On Tuesday, Noem said the contract was awarded through a “competitive process” and no political figures were involved. Yesterday he said that “everything was done correctly and legally”.
A department spokesman said officials are overseeing the contract awarding process, and details first reported by The Associated Press and ProPublica show the contract was awarded to two companies associated with Republican party officials.
One of the companies, Safe America Media, was incorporated in Delaware just a week before it was awarded the $143 million contract. The second, People Who Think, based in Louisiana, got a smaller piece of the contract, worth 77 million.
Strategy Group, a company owned by the husband of outgoing spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, announced Wednesday that it received $226,000 as a subcontractor.
