HOLDING PATTERN

DHS Not Sure About Buying ICE Barbie’s Mile-High Jet Anymore

The potential $70 million purchase may depend on what Noem’s successor thinks.

The Department of Homeland Security is reconsidering buying the luxury jet used by outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem and her rumored lover, Corey Lewandowski.

DHS, according to National Review, is reevaluating its plan to buy the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft it is currently leasing for $70 million, which The Wall Street Journal reported last month. The news comes several days after President Donald Trump fired Noem, 54, with top aide Lewandowski, 52, exiting the department as well. Noem’s last day is March 31.

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The discussions are “preliminary,” according to the report, with much depending on the confirmation of Trump’s chosen replacement for Noem, Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has yet to approve the purchase.

A DHS spokesperson previously told the Daily Beast that the plane, which was earmarked for deportation flights, was also needed for Cabinet-level travel, and that it was cheaper than using a military plane to carry out deportations. However, DHS most often uses chartered flights rather than military ones.

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The Daily Beast has contacted DHS about National Review’s report.

Photographs of the plane’s interior, obtained by NBC News, reveal a private cabin that includes a queen-size bed and a mirrored wardrobe. The plane also boasts a kitchen, living space, bar, showers, and several large televisions. New York-based interior designer Peter Marino has been credited with the renovation. Other renovations made to the plane include painting the exterior red, white and blue.

DHS staff reportedly refer to the plane as Noem’s “big, beautiful jet,” a reference to the name for President Trump’s 2025 budget, which he dubbed the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.”

Noem and Lewandowksi, each of whom are married with children, have denied being romantically involved. But, according to a New York magazine exposé last September, it was “widely understood” that they were, with one FEMA official calling it the “worst-kept secret in D.C.”

Additionally, the Daily Beast’s The Swamp newsletter reported last February that Lewandowski had been seen at Noem’s Washington, D.C., home taking out her trash. The pair’s alleged antics while in the air have also raised eyebrows, which have reportedly involved firing–and then rehiring– a pilot after an incident involving a lost blanket on a U.S. Coast Guard plane. The blanket was then claimed to have been a ruse for a mystery bag, the contents of which were allegedly embarrassing.

As of last month, the “big, beautiful jet” seated a maximum of 18 passengers, though deportation flights typically carry between 50 and 100 migrants. A DHS spokesperson told NBC then that “at least one of the bedrooms is currently being converted for seating to prepare the aircraft to meet the demands of its deportation mission set.”

Noem was confronted with an image of the luxury plane by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse during her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, who asked her to explain the image of the private bedroom.

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As Noem attempted to argue that the photos were “not accurate if you’re referring to the airplanes that the Department of Homeland Security has purchased and are purchasing,” Whitehouse interrupted to ask if she had or had not used a private luxury jet with a bedroom in it.

“We’ve used a 737. I’ve been on it once, but it is being used by other administration officials, and it is used for command and control flights for the department,” Noem responded.

It later emerged that she had also lent the plane to Melania Trump in the apparent hope that its use by the first lady would shield her from scrutiny.

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Noem reportedly infuriated other senior Trump officials after proposing the use of deportation funds to purchase the luxury jet amid a partial government shutdown that has left her department without funding.

One anonymous senior administration official told Axios, “This is the world’s worst deal to buy an aircraft,” while another source told the outlet that OMB Director Russell Vought had expressed concerns about the jet.

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