WASHINGTON — Kristi Noem discovered a method to make a near-plane crash about herself.
The previous Division of Homeland Safety secretary, nicknamed “ICE Barbie,” weighed in on her successor, Markwayne Mullin, having to make an emergency touchdown at Reagan Nationwide Airport on Wednesday — with a single working engine on his Coast Guard airplane and a fireplace noticed.
“So grateful everyone seems to be protected. 🙏 Guess the Coast Guard did want new planes,” Noem wrote on X in regards to the incident.
Noem was tooting her personal horn for getting the Division of Homeland Safety $172 million value of personal planes, saying they have been wanted within the wake of an emergency touchdown that endangered the present secretary.
As secretary, Noem traveled far and broad, together with to a hell-hole Salvadoran jail sporting a $50,000 Rolex watch. She was typically alongside her long-rumored lover Corey Lewandowski.
The pair brought about turbulence when Lewandowski fired a Coast Guard pilot for leaving Noem’s blanket on a airplane — however was pressured to rehire them upon realizing there was no one else to fly the occasion residence. Noem switched planes because of a upkeep situation, however her blanket was not moved to the substitute plane.
“They want [a] new airplane, however not for the explanation you needed new planes,” one on-line consumer mocked on Thursday after Noem’s remark. “Higher luck subsequent time attempting to amass a flying brothel for you and Corey Lewandowski. Dust bag.”
The division, underneath Noem’s tenure as secretary, spent $172 million of taxpayer cash on a pair of Gulfstream personal jets for the Coast Guard.
Democrats and different critics went to city on Noem over the acquisition and what they known as her “lavish” way of life as secretary, together with residing in a Coast Guard commander’s residence on a DC-area army base. The Coast Guard is underneath the purview of DHS.
Mullin was on an older airplane when the emergency touchdown was made at Reagan Nationwide Airport. Fox Information stories that the C101, a C-37A, had been flagged final 12 months for assessment because of its age.
The C-37A is the army model of a Gulfstream V jet and is routinely used to hold senior DHS officers, together with the secretary.
The pilot advised air site visitors controllers that the airplane had misplaced considered one of its engines and wanted to land instantly.
“We simply misplaced our proper engine. We’d prefer to declare an emergency and [request] rapid touchdown at DCA,” the pilot radioed to plane management.
“Now we have 14 souls on board and a couple of.5 hours of gas,” she mentioned.
Mullin, who was getting back from a visit to Georgia, downplayed the incident.
“The US Coast Guard pilots made the single-engine touchdown really feel routine,” he tweeted.
“No panic, simply straight professionalism. After we landed, the pilots advised me that was a primary for them! We couldn’t have been in higher fingers.”
He was noticed on the White Home later Wednesday night time, having fun with dinner within the Rose Backyard with President Trump, lawmakers and administration officers.
Whereas nonetheless Homeland Safety Secretary, Noem defended her buy as obligatory.
“These plane are Coast Guard plane to interchange 25-year-old airplanes which are obligatory for the mission of the Coast Guard. Congress appropriated the {dollars} and paid for them within the ‘massive, stunning invoice,’ and we’re grateful that we’re in a position to transfer ahead,” she mentioned.
The primary jet was delivered in January, whereas the second has not but arrived at DHS. It’s unclear why Mullin was on an older airplane.
Noem, whereas at DHS, additionally leased a controversial $70 million jet for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reportedly to assist deport migrants from the US.
Nonetheless, Noem additionally used the posh airplane — which featured a queen mattress, showers, a kitchen, and 4 massive flat-screen TVs — personally, jetting across the nation with Lewandowski.
Trump fired Noem in March, partly due to the drama round her and Lewandowski’s administration at DHS and stories of their love affair.
