Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not leave quietly after President Donald Trump fired her. In the final hours of her tenure, she steered hundreds of millions of dollars in airplane spending toward a company owned by one of her political donors.

The recipient was Daedalus, a company owned by William Walters. According to figures gathered from a New York Times report, the Department of Homeland Security gave Daedalus $387 million in deals with staggering profit margins.

One purchase involved $108 million for a Boeing 737 Max 8 converted into a luxury jet. Daedalus had bought the aircraft for less than $90 million only months earlier.

DHS also spent $106 million for two smaller luxury jets that had cost Daedalus $83 million. Another $90 million bought two 17 year old Boeing 737 passenger planes for $45 million each, even though experts said that price was millions of dollars above their worth.

The luxury aircraft came with the kind of details that make government excess look almost satirical. It included marble showers and a table covered in manta ray skin.

That table is especially grotesque because giant manta rays are on the endangered list, while reef manta rays are considered vulnerable. Apparently, even threatened wildlife can become decor when the government is shopping for fancy planes.

Walters gave $10,000 to one of Noem’s political action committees in 2024. Against the nearly $400 million his company received, that contribution looks like a remarkably lucrative investment in access.

Daedalus was not Walters’ only company benefiting from DHS spending. He also runs Salus, which received nearly $1 billion from the department last year for Project Homecoming, the purported “concierge service” for immigrants who self deport.

DHS claimed that 2.2 million immigrants had self deported, but the article reported that the real figure was closer to 72,000 in March. Salus nevertheless burned through $900 million and received another $200 million in May.

Noem responded by demanding a retraction. Her objection, however, appeared focused on the New York Times describing Walters as one of her donors rather than on the lucrative deals his companies received.

That complaint is a semantic dodge worthy of the whole sordid spectacle. Walters gave money to one of Noem’s political action committees, which is what most people would recognize as making him a donor.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina added to the criticism during an appearance on “60 Minutes.” He attacked both the decision to hire Noem and the amount of money spent during her tenure.

“I was thinking about the $200 million that the Department of Homeland Security was spending on an ad campaign with her riding a horse,” Tillis said.

“I was thinking about her calling people that were shot, potentially domestic terrorists. That’s proven not to be true.”

Tillis added, “I think Noem and [War Secretary Pete] Hegseth are probably the poster children for men and women who should never have the authority they’ve been granted.”

There is no need to celebrate Tillis to acknowledge that his assessment of Noem and Hegseth landed squarely. Noem’s tenure combined lavish spending, brutal treatment of immigrants, and contracts that sent billions of dollars out the door.

She also spent $220 million on advertisements featuring herself rather than Trump, then threw him under the bus when questioned about the spending. For a president famously protective of his own spotlight, that was apparently a costly choice.

Trump’s outrage carries its own rich irony because the article argues that he created the culture of corruption that allowed Noem to operate this way. Her conduct was not presented as some mysterious break from the administration surrounding her.

Noem has now moved into the role of special envoy for the “Shield of the Americas.” After the contracts, luxury aircraft, promotional spending, and donor dispute that defined her exit, the grift questions are unlikely to disappear with her old title.