Democratic senators have launched an inquiry into three firms that secured a $220 million advertising contract promoting the work of outgoing Kristi Noem, seeking to determine whether Noem or other officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security personally benefited from the agreements.

According to letters obtained by NBC News, Sens. Peter Welch and Richard Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, wrote Friday to three companies involved in the campaign: Safe America Media, People Who Think, and Strategy Group.

In their letters, the senators said Safe America Media was awarded a $143 million no-bid contract and that Strategy Group — a subcontractor linked to the deal — participated in the campaign. Strategy Group is run by Ben Yoho, the husband of former DHS press secretary Tricia McLaughlin. Lawmakers also noted that People Who Think received a separate $77 million contract without a competitive bidding process.

Concerns about the rapid awarding of the contracts outside the traditional procurement process began circulating in 2025 and intensified during Noem’s testimony before House and Senate committees earlier this week.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that Noem had been dismissed from her post and would step down effective March 31. He said she would be replaced by Markwayne Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma.

Soon after her removal, an administration official said that the advertising campaign played a role in the decision to fire Noem. The official described the move as the result of “a culmination of her many unfortunate leadership failures,” including controversy surrounding the ad campaign, tensions with other agencies, and internal management issues.

Trump also criticized the cost of the campaign, saying he had not been aware of its price tag despite Noem’s testimony that the president had been informed.

“I wasn’t thrilled with it. I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it,” Trump said.