Kristi Noem's Wild Final Morning in Office Revealed

Key Points:

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem purchased five luxury jets from a political donor for significantly above market value shortly before leaving office, spending $464 million on ten unused aircraft from Daedalus Aviation Corporation.
• The Boeing 737 Max 8 was bought for $108 million, despite Daedalus having acquired it months earlier for $90 million, and other jets were similarly overpriced, raising concerns about the contracts' legitimacy and value.
• Noem was fired by President Trump in March amid controversies over awarding contracts to politically connected firms but continued these purchases until her successor, Markwayne Mullin, took over and hesitated to cancel the deals due to potential financial losses.
• The contracts were awarded without competition to Daedalus, chaired by pro-Trump donor William Walters III, who had no prior federal contracts and whose company had a troubled financial history; Walters also donated to a pro-Noem super PAC linked to her adviser Corey Lewandowski.
• The jets, intended to support Trump’s deportation policy, were instead used to transport Trump officials and have since been left unused in Louisiana due to a lack of crews, with DHS under Mullin distancing itself from the purchases.