Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers about how Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to an eight-day-old media company.In a series of letters Tuesday, Senators Richard Blumenthal and Peter Welch requested information and documents from three companies with ties to Noem’s inner circle. The organizations had received a total of $220 million to make a slate of anti-immigrant ads, the backlash to which likely contributed to Noem’s firing earlier this month.The first letter was to Safe America Media, a company that received a $143 million no-bid contract to produce a number of advertisements for DHS. It was later reported that the company had only been formed eight days before it won the nine-figure government contract.“As far as we can tell, Safe America Media has no office, no website, and no social media presence,” the lawmakers wrote to Michael McElwain, a veteran Republican operative who appeared to own the property associated with the company. The second letter was to the Strategy Group, which received a subcontract to work on Safe America Media’s ad campaign, receiving a total of $226,137 for five film shoots, 45 video, and six radio ad spots. Strategy Group CEO Benjamin Yoho is married to Tricia McLaughlin, a former spokesperson for DHS who departed her role earlier this year. Yoho has a long-standing relationship with Noem, having produced advertisements for her 2022 gubernatorial campaign and beyond. The outgoing secretary was reportedly put in touch with the agency by her alleged paramour and chief adviser, Corey Lewandowski. McLaughlin claimed on social media that neither Yoho nor the Strategy Group “have ever had a contract with DHS.” But in their letter, Welch and Blumenthal noted that the Strategy Group admitted that it had indeed received a subcontract.The third letter was to Jay Connaughton, the managing partner at People Who Think, a marketing consulting firm that received a $77 million no-bid contract to produce the same slate of ads. Connaughton is also connected to Lewandowski; the two worked together on Louisiana Governor Jeff Landy’s 2023 campaign.The lawmakers requested copies of contracts, subcontracts, and invoices, as well as all correspondence between the companies and DHS.