Kristi Noem's Infamous Mount Rushmore Cowboy Ads Cost Over $225,000 Just To Shoot

Noem lost her spot as homeland security's top leader earlier this month after getting grilled about the sky-high ad budget she approved.

Ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spent an eye-popping amount on hair, makeup and horse rentals to produce a series of pro-deportation ads that ended up costing hundreds of millions of dollars to get to viewers.

Last year, ProPublica reported that taxpayers shelled out $220 million for a campaign meant to deter illegal immigration and urge undocumented migrants to “self-deport.” Now, both CNN and The Daily Beast have documents detailing the cost of the most infamous videos, which show Noem riding horseback in front of Mount Rushmore while praising President Donald Trump and America’s “vision and grit.”

“Freedom’s a precious thing, and we defend it vigorously,” Noem says while giddied up in cowboy garb in one of the most widely publicized ads. “You cross the border illegally, we’ll find you. Break our laws, we’ll punish you. Harm American citizens, there will be consequences.”

According to financial records submitted by The Strategy Group, a political consulting company whose CEO is married to Noem’s former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, those production costs were billed to another company set up just eight days before it was awarded a $143 million federal contract of its own.

That company, Safe America Media, used the bulk of its taxpayer-funded prize to buy TV airtime or spots on social media, but records provided to Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) show its spared little expense on the actual making of the ads, which racked up $226,137 in production costs. Welch and Blumenthal also shared a breakdown of the costs online.