EXCLUSIVE-Trump tells Reuters he did not sign off on ad campaign featuring homeland security secretary

By Steve Holland and Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told Reuters on Thursday that he did not sign off on a $220 million border security advertising campaign featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who faced bipartisan criticism over the commercials during congressional hearings this week.

"I never knew anything about it," Trump told Reuters in a phone interview.

Noem - a top official overseeing Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown - faced scrutiny about the campaign while testifying before congressional panels on Tuesday and Wednesday. Lawmakers from both parties asked about the contract and process to select the companies.

The ads prominently featured Noem, including a scene of her on horseback at Mount Rushmore in the former South Dakota governor's home state.

In one of the exchanges over the contracts, U.S. Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, asked Noem if Trump had approved the commercials.

"The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?" Kennedy asked Noem.

"Yes, sir. We went through the legal processes, did it correctly," she replied.

During testimony before U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives panels, Noem faced criticism from Democrats and some Republicans, including for her remarks in January calling the acts of two U.S. citizens shot dead by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis "domestic terrorism."

REPUBLICAN-CONNECTED FIRMS AWARDED CONTRACT

In the hearing before House lawmakers, Democratic Representative Joe Neguse raised concerns that the contract was offered to just four companies rather than offered through a standard competitive bidding process. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said at the time that the limited competition was warranted because of the urgent threat posed by illegal immigration.

Noem said on Tuesday that the contract was awarded through "a competitive process" and that no political appointees were involved. On Wednesday, she said the contract was "all done correctly, all done legally."

The ​contract was awarded ​to two companies ⁠linked to long-time Republican operatives, records show, details reported last year by the Associated Press and ProPublica.

One of the companies, Safe America ​Media, was incorporated in Delaware a week before winning ​the contract. ⁠The company was awarded $143 million, federal records show.

The second, the Louisiana-based firm People Who Think, was awarded $77 million.

Neither company responded to requests for comment on Wednesday.

The Strategy ⁠Group, ​a company run by the husband of outgoing ​DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin , said on Wednesday that it was paid $226,000 as a subcontractor, a small ​portion of the total.