Mr. I Only Hire The Best's current and former Department of Homeland Security heads are currently engaged in a rousing round of the Blame Game as the pair point the finger at each other over a fleet of "barely used" jets that cost the American public a whopping $500 million.
The New York Times dropped a sweeping, deep-dive investigative report this week, taking aim at the eye-popping $464 million Homeland Security deal cut with Virginia-based Daedalus Aviation Corporation for 10 jets that have sat in Lake Charles, Louisiana, essentially collecting dust for "months at a time," per the Times report.
Homeland Security, now under the purview of Kristi Noem's replacement, Markwayne Mullin, continues to claim that the multi-million dollar fleet of aircraft is simply going through "maintenance checks," and two of them are slated for deportation flights later this month. The department has typically utilized planes from other agencies or leased private flights for deportations.
According to the NYT report, 3 out of the 10 aircraft purchased from Daedalus are high-end, luxury business jets. The other 7 are Boeing 737 passenger jets that the department says are intended for deportation use.
Both current DHS Secretary Mullin and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem -- who was ousted from the position by Donald Trump in the wake of public outcry over immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota, including the killings of Alex Pretti and Renea Good by immigration enforcement officers -- have released separate public statements placing the "responsibility" for the highly controversial no-bid jet contract on each other.
DHS released a statement to the Times, stating, "The contract for Daedalus was made and approved by department leadership before Secretary Mullin was sworn in," going on to add that Homeland Security reserves "the right to adjust course in an environment with evolving requirements and demands."
A spokesperson for Noem has released a public statement claiming, in no uncertain terms, that the jet fleet contract was "finalized" under Mullin's leadership.
The Times deep dive determined that the contract was, in fact, upped by an additional $300 million upon Mullin's move into the DHS leadership role.
Questions and criticism have viciously swirled, as the DHS jet fleet fiasco has served as yet another example of the Trump Administration's incessant and inappropriate use of no-bid contracts.
Trump's administration has asserted that the "urgency" of their deportation efforts allows Homeland Security to bypass the traditional procedures they should be expected to follow with regard to government contracts.
Incidentally enough, the $500M jet fleet contract was awarded to a company chaired by William Walters, who previously donated $10,000 to a PAC that supported Kristi Noem. As more and more corruption comes to light, Democratic Senators Patty Murray, of Washington State, and Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, have publicly demanded an official investigation into the controversial contract.
The company has vehemently asserted that Walters was unaware of the connection between the political committee he donated to and now-former DHS head Kristi Noem.
In a letter co-penned to DHS by Murray and Murphy, the pair wrote, "The American people deserve a full accounting of this gross misuse of their tax dollars."
Both of the senators accused Trump Administration officials of utilizing the fleet of unused jets as an "in-house private jet service."
"This includes providing jet services not only for DHS officials like yourself, but also for White House Border Czar Tom Homan, other administration officials, members of the first family, and even the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kash Patel."
