So I went a bit further down the rabbit hole this weekend and learned some more about the players involved in the $220 million contract with DHS.
The Past Few Days
But first a quick update on the latest news since publishing the first article last week.
- During the hearings last week, Senator Kennedy asked Secretary Noem if President Trump had said okay to spending $220 million on the campaign. After evading the question, she ultimately said yes, that President Trump had approved her plan.
- When Trump was asked if Noem had gotten approval from him directly, he said no. Hmmm, one of them’s not telling the truth. However, the campaign was apparently the last straw and ended in Noem’s reassignment to special envoy for The Shield of the Americas.
- Bottom line, whether President Trump approved the campaign or not, it doesn’t really matter (at least to me). The controversy in my mind lies squarely in the procurement process.
As discussed last week (link), DHS invoked the federal procurement clause for “unusual and compelling urgency.” That designation allows agencies to bypass the normal competitive bidding process. DHS selected Safe America Media, LLC as the prime contractor, a company that was only formed 8 days prior to the awarding of the contract. Note, I included People Who Think as a prime contractor.
The Players
Based on information out on the world wide web, I’ve tried to piece together the players that touched the infamous $220 million ad campaign. I may have some of this wrong and if I do, please DM me.
To be clear, I don’t think anyone did anything illegal – although the ad campaign probably broke some rules of common decency. It’s the process that’s highly suspect. This is NOT how Federal contracts are supposed to work, at least in my experience.
Lastly, I have deliberately avoided any reference to Corey Lewandowski whose fingerprints are all over the place 😉
(?) Referenced by Bloomberg. I have seen nothing else written about their involvement.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially from those that don’t see an issue with the contracting process as outlined in this article.
Northampton Consulting 