New reporting this weekend revealed that in the final hours of former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s tenure, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) approved spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on marked-up luxury planes that went to a firm led by one of Noem’s political donors.
DHS paid $108 million in taxpayer funds for a luxury private jet to Daedalus Aviation Corporation. Daedalus’s chair, William Walters, donated $10,000 to Noem’s PAC in 2024 and contributed to pro-Trump groups. The donor’s firm previously purchased the plane for nearly $20 million less than what DHS paid. Noem also directed the agency to spend $106 million on two smaller luxury jets, and an additional $90 million for a pair of 17-year-old planes. Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles directed current DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to allow the sale to go through. During Noem’s tenure, DHS used taxpayer funds to purchase 10 airplanes worth more than $460 million — most of which were left unused.
After Noem took office, the agency awarded more than $900 million in contracts to companies led by Walters.
In response, DNC Deputy Communications Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement:
“Donald Trump promised to ‘drain the swamp,’ yet his administration is crawling with corruption. Kristi Noem already wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on luxury planes, tricked-out trucks, and a starring role in an advertising campaign — and now there’s even more proof that those dollars were also benefiting her political donors. Americans are fed up with Trump and his inner circle and their elite donors getting rich while they are stuck with high prices on gas and groceries — and in less than 30 days, Americans will hold Trump and Republicans accountable.”
Noem had a well-established tenure of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. She directed at least $375 million in taxpayer money toward vanity projects, including $172 million for two private jets, $2.4 million for gold-detailed ICE vehicles, $120,000 for Mustangs for ICE, and $700,000 for tricked-out ICE trucks. Noem regularly used her position for her personal gain, including by providing over $200 million in taxpayer money to fund an ad campaign she starred in, some of which went to a private firm with which Noem has longstanding personal and business ties.
