FIRST ON FOX: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s legal team hit a South Dakota media outlet with a cease-and-desist letter demanding that it correct and end its knowingly “false and misleading” reporting that Noem allegedly racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars on a government-issued credit card when she served as governor, Fox News Digital has learned. 

“On behalf of former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem in her personal capacity, I write out of concern that your website continues to publish false and misleading information about my client that you have known to be false since at least July 2024,” an attorney representing Noem in her personal capacity said in a letter to the co-founders of a South Dakota outlet called The Dakota Scout. The letter was obtained by Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

“Specifically, your website repeatedly, and inaccurately, refers to all charges on credit cards used by the Office of the Governor of South Dakota as charges of my client—allowing a conclusion by multiple commenters on the site and other news outlets that my client violated the laws of South Dakota or stole taxpayer funds for her personal use,” it continued.  “We demand that The Dakota Scout immediately cease spreading these false, misleading, and inaccurate statements and take immediate and significant steps to correct past inaccuracies.” 

The Dakota Scout has for months reported that Noem racked up more than $650,000 in credit card transactions on a government-issued card during her gubernatorial career, which has now grown legs in the state as other outlets publish similar reports. 

However, receipts reviewed by Fox Digital, as well as outlined in the cease-and-desist letter, show that Noem used her government credit card about 30 times across her tenure as governor for a total of $2,056.72. 

Noem’s gubernatorial office did spend more than $650,000 via multiple credit cards for official purposes across her years in office, receipts show. 

Noem served as South Dakota governor from January 2019 to January 2025, when she was sworn-in as the nation’s eighth Department of Homeland Security chief. 

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The Dakota Scout is a local media outlet covering South Dakota politics and culture that is based out of Sioux Falls and was founded in 2022, according to its website. 

The outlet, which also has a weekly print edition, has extensively written about credit card expenditures under Noem’s gubernatorial tenure, including headlines, “Noem’s state credit card spending kept secret,” “AG Jackley releases state reimbursements amid scrutiny of Noem’s credit card usage,” “Gov. Kristi Noem credit card secrecy prompts lawsuit,” and “Kristi Noem’s credit card expenses: Search database to see 5 years of charges.”

“The monthly totals show that Noem spent nearly $650,000 from the time she took office in 2019 through April of this year,” a report from July stated, characterizing the expenses as solely made by Noem. 

“The Scout reported last summer that Noem had spent nearly $650,000 on the charge cards,” another article published in February reads. 

“The Dakota Scout has not seen the letter, but it sounds like it was written by somebody lacking understanding of the facts and the First Amendment. We stand by our reporting, and wish Sec. Noem well on her endeavors,” co-founder Jonathan Ellis and Joe Sneve told Fox News Digital when approached for comment. 

The Dakota Scout obtained credit card expenditures for Noem and her office earlier in 2025 after filing an open records lawsuit against the state auditor in September 2025, the outlet detailed in various articles. The media organization has since launched a database of her office’s credit card transactions across five years.

After receiving the receipts for the expenses in February, the outlet noted in its coverage that both “Noem and her staff charged more than $650,000 to state-issued credit cards,” while recent headlines still focus on “Noem’s credit card usage” and “Kristi Noem’s credit card expenses.” 

“This is fake news,” Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for Noem in her personal capacity, told Fox News Digital of the outlet’s reports in recent months. “They’ve been told it’s fake news, and it’s been proven to them, but they’re still at it.” 

“They’re trying to raise their own profile by attacking Kristi Noem because she’s a major public figure from the state, and now that she’s the Secretary of Homeland Security, she’s an even bigger target,” he said. “She’s busy doing her job and won’t be distracted from securing the border and keeping Americans safe as an important part of President Trump’s Cabinet. These journalists are definitely bringing attention to themselves, but not in the way they imagined.” 

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Noem’s then-gubernatorial office sent a letter in October 2024 to The Dakota Scout requesting a correction to its previous report characterizing Noem as personally spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. 

The letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, detailed that in 2019 Noem did not have a government-issued credit card, that she spent $55.44 on her card in 2020, $841.21 in 2021, $730.19 in 2022, $429.88 in 2023 and $0 in 2024. The grand total comes to $2,056.72 in expenses on Noem’s card specifically.   

Noem’s gubernatorial office told the outlet in the letter that the office of the state auditor initially provided the outlet with a spreadsheet of monthly official expenses “for several state employees, not just the governor,” which Noem’s office said led to the outlet’s “incorrect conclusion that ‘The monthly totals show that Noem spent nearly $650,000 from the time she took office in 2019 through April of this year.’” 

The outlet acknowledged that the governor’s office had requested a correction but brushed off the email, including writing “heh” in the response. 

“I have reviewed your letter. We do not comment on pending litigation. Heh,” read the email, which was sent by The Dakota Scout co-founder, Jonathan Ellis. 

“I’m certain you will have the opportunity to fully explain your reasoning when you are deposed,” the email, which was reviewed by Fox Digital, added. 

The cease-and-desist letter sent Thursday demanded that the outlet correct previous headlines and graphics or likely face a lawsuit. 

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“Demand is hereby made that you immediately cease and desist reporting that my client spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her government-issued credit cards and correct any headlines or graphics stating the same, and to notify your readers of these facts,” the letter reads. “Otherwise, we will consider all legal remedies, including a lawsuit seeking maximum compensatory and punitive damages, that we estimate at millions of dollars.” 

“We understand the benefit of transparency in government, but articles that are false, misleading, and deceptive do not provide transparency. Instead, such repeatedly false, misleading, and inaccurate reporting constitutes defamation,” the letter said. 

The total credit card expenses for the office included payments for Noem’s security detail, including when the detail would accompany her on the road. Noem rose to national prominence amid the pandemic in 2020, as she bucked COVID-19 mandates to the applause of conservatives nationwide and to the dismay of liberal voters and Democrat colleagues. 

Retired New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik told Fox News Digital on Thursday that “complaints about these expenditures are ludicrous,” citing that her high-profile on the national stage required that she have a security detail. 

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“Kristi Noem was and is a high-profile public official who faces real security threats, including during the time when she was governor of South Dakota,” he said.  “A governor is never off-duty and requires the same level of protection regardless of whether they are in their home state or traveling out of state,” he said. “And the level of security they need would be assessed by the security experts providing the protection, not by the governor herself. It’s the same for all protectees — if you want to keep these people safe, it costs money.” 

The former governor and current Trump admin official has previously faced threats, including in 2020 when her security detail was activated after a man was spotted brandishing a knife and a baton during a campaign tour promoting President Donald Trump’s re-election that year.

The majority of The Dakota Scout’s coverage on the expenses was authored by journalists Ellis and Austin Goss. 

Goss previously made national headlines in 2023 when he was arrested for impersonating Noem in what he said was a prank phone call. Goss was arrested in May 2023 after using a prank website to make it appear a phone call was made from Noem’s personal cellphone number. 

Goss used a prerecorded prank message called “Mafia Guy Got Vaccines” while calling the former chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party and impersonating Noem. 

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Goss ultimately was fired by his then-employer, Dakota News Now, and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge, multiple outlets reported at the time. 

He was initially charged with a misdemeanor count of making threatening, harassing or misleading contacts, which carried a maximum penalty of up to a year in prison. The journalist’s lawyer argued amid court proceedings that the call was just a “practical joke” between Goss and a friend. 

Following the plea, Goss sent an apology letter to Noem that underscored that he has “a great deal of respect for” the then-governor and that Noem was “the reason that I moved to South Dakota in the first place in 2020.” 

“I also apologize for the strain my mistake has understandably caused within your office,” Goss wrote in his letter to Noem, which was obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“Given my line of work, it has not always felt like it I am sure — but I care about you, your family, and your current and former staff. Many of the people you work with, or have worked with, are personal friends of mine and I deeply value their relationships both professionally and personally. I owe them a similar apology for what they had to endure as a consequence of my actions, and the trust that I breached in doing what I did,” he wrote. 

Goss has recently been floated as a potential candidate to run for state auditor in South Dakota, with the journalist telling a state political blog in February that he “views himself as a government watchdog.”

A source familiar with South Dakota politics told Fox News Digital that there is a “small group of people in” the Mount Rushmore State “who feel like they can get a seat at the grown-ups table if they attack Kristi Noem.”

“It’s ironic that they want to be like her, but they do that by attacking her and refusing to see what’s good for the whole team, which is a stupid and self-defeating strategy. It’s the same old problem we’ve seen before. Too many coyotes and not enough jackrabbits,” the source said. 

Fox Digital learned that Noem’s legal team plans to send similar cease-and-desist letters to other outlets characterizing the $650,000 in expenditures were made specifically by the former governor.