（新闻国家）—据报道，国土安全部在前国土安全部长克里斯蒂·诺姆离任前数小时，从一位政治捐赠人那里以虚高价格购买了五架飞机——这一指控她予以否认。据《纽约时报》报道，该机构从戴达勒斯航空公司购买了这些飞机，支付了1.08亿美元购买一架波音737改装的私人喷机，1.06亿美元购买一对湾流喷机，以及分别支付4500万美元购买两架波音737客机。
(NewsNation) — The Department of Homeland Security reportedly bought five planes at inflated prices from a political donor to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem just hours before she left office — a charge she refutes. The agency purchased the planes from Daedalus Aviation Corporation and paid $108 million for a Boeing 737 converted to a private jet, $106 million for a pair of Gulfstream jets and $45 million each for two Boeing 737 passenger jets, according to reporting by The New York Times.
报道称，这些飞机是在诺姆离任前一天上午购买的。她于3月5日因多起丑闻被解职，但在3月24日国土安全部长马克·温林接管之前仍留任该职位。在社交媒体X上发表帖文时，诺姆予以驳斥，称该报“不诚实”，并表示已做了“多项更正”。她还称“捐赠人”一词具有误导性。戴达勒斯公司总裁威廉·沃特斯曾向支持诺姆的政治行动委员会“美国决心”捐赠了1万美元。
The paper reported that the planes were purchased the morning before Noem left office. She had been fired on March 5 following several controversies but remained in the role until Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin took over on March 24. In a post on social platform X, Noem pushed back, calling the paper "dishonest" and saying that "numerous corrections" had been made. She also called the term donor "misleading." William Walters, the head of Daedalus, donated $10,000 to political action committee American Resolve, which supported Noem.
据报道，这些飞机是以远高于戴达勒斯最初购入成本的价格出售给政府的。诺姆在帖文中写道：“如果该人并未直接向诺姆部长做出政治捐款，或者‘捐赠人’一词实际上是间接指向与会事务无关的实体或合法独立的捐款，那么该报道根本不符合《纽约时报》所应具备的精确性标准。”据报道，戴达勒斯公司在出售给国土安全部之前，以低于9000万美元的价格购入了这架1.08亿美元的波音737私人飞机。
The planes were reportedly purchased at a large markup from what Daedalus originally paid to acquire them. "If the individual did not personally make political contributions to Secretary Noem, or if the term 'donor' instead refers indirectly to unrelated entities or legally distinct contributions, the article simply fails to meet the standards of precision expected of The New York Times," the former secretary wrote. The $108 million Boeing 737 private plane was reportedly bought by Daedalus for less than $90 million a few months before DHS purchased it, according to the report.
据悉，戴达勒斯公司以8300万美元购入的湾流喷机，以1.06亿美元的价格卖给政府，远高于市场价格。据悉，这五架飞机占了《纽约时报》此前报道的10架飞机采购计划的一半，而国土安全部称这些飞机是为执行驱逐出境飞行所必需的。然而，由于缺乏驾驶人员，这些飞机基本上未被使用。
The Gulfstreams that Daedalus sold for $106 million were reportedly purchased for $83 million, said to be millions more than market prices. The five planes make up half of a 10-plane purchase the Times previously reported on, which DHS said was necessary for deportation flights. However, without crews to fly them, the planes have gone largely unused.
除了与戴达罗斯签订的无竞标购买飞机合同外，该机构还聘请了另一家由沃特斯拥有的公司萨鲁斯环球公司（Salus Worldwide）来维护所购飞机。同一家公司也被DHS聘请，让诺埃姆及其助手乘坐包机飞行，并鼓励移民自愿出境。NewsNation就此事联系了DHS予以回复。
In addition to the no-bid contract with Daedalus to purchase planes, the agency also hired Salus Worldwide, another company owned by Walters, to care for the purchased planes. That same company was also hired by DHS to fly Noem and her aides on chartered planes and to encourage immigrants to self-deport. NewsNation reached out to DHS for comment.