In the final hours of Kristi Noem’s tenure as homeland security secretary, her agency paid a political donor’s firm a substantial markup for five airplanes, documents show. The Department of Homeland Security agreed to pay Daedalus Aviation Corporation $108 million for a Boeing 737 converted into a private jet, which the firm had bought for less than $90 million months earlier. The agency also paid $106 million for two Gulfstream jets that Daedalus had purchased for about $83 million, and $45 million each for two 17-year-old Boeing 737 passenger planes, prices that aviation experts said were millions above market value.
President Trump fired Noem on March 5, but she remained until her successor, Markwayne Mullin, was approved on March 24. Mullin explored backing out of the deal but feared financial penalties, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles advised against blocking it. Mullin’s staff noted the planes were purchased before his arrival.
The Times reported in August that D.H.S. bought 10 planes from Daedalus for $464 million, now a symbol of government waste. The agency lacked crews to fly them, leasing one to the F.B.I. and leaving the rest idle. New documents reveal the five most expensive planes were bought on Noem’s last morning in office.
Noem, now a State Department envoy, declined to answer questions, repeating that the purchase was not completed during her tenure. Daedalus’s chairman, William Walters, gave $10,000 to Noem’s American Resolve PAC in 2024, though the company said he was unaware of its association.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing