WASHINGTON — Kristi Noem found a way to make a near-plane crash about herself.
The former Department of Homeland Security secretary, nicknamed “ICE Barbie,” weighed in on her successor, Markwayne Mullin, having to make an emergency landing at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday — with a single working engine on his Coast Guard plane and a fire spotted.
“So thankful everyone is safe. 🙏 Guess the Coast Guard did need new planes,” Noem wrote on X about the incident.
Noem was tooting her own horn for buying the Department of Homeland Security $172 million worth of private planes, saying they were needed in the wake of an emergency landing that endangered the current secretary.
As secretary, Noem traveled far and wide, including to a hell-hole Salvadoran prison wearing a $50,000 Rolex watch. She was often alongside her long-rumored lover Corey Lewandowski.
The pair caused turbulence when Lewandowski fired a Coast Guard pilot for leaving Noem’s blanket on a plane — but was forced to rehire them upon realizing there was nobody else to fly the party home. Noem switched planes due to a maintenance issue, but her blanket was not moved to the replacement aircraft.
“They need [a] new plane, but not for the reason you wanted new planes,” one online user mocked on Thursday after Noem’s comment. “Better luck next time trying to acquire a flying brothel for you and Corey Lewandowski. Dirt bag.”
The department, under Noem’s tenure as secretary, spent $172 million of taxpayer money on a pair of Gulfstream private jets for the Coast Guard.
Democrats and other critics went to town on Noem over the purchase and what they called her “lavish” lifestyle as secretary, including living in a Coast Guard commander’s home on a DC-area military base. The Coast Guard is under the purview of DHS.
Mullin was on an older plane when the emergency landing was made at Reagan National Airport. Fox News reports that the C101, a C-37A, had been flagged last year for review due to its age.
The C-37A is the military version of a Gulfstream V jet and is routinely used to carry senior DHS officials, including the secretary.
The pilot told air traffic controllers that the plane had lost one of its engines and needed to land immediately.
“We just lost our right engine. We’d like to declare an emergency and [request] immediate landing at DCA,” the pilot radioed to aircraft control.
“We have 14 souls on board and 2.5 hours of fuel,” she said.
Mullin, who was returning from a trip to Georgia, downplayed the incident.
“The United States Coast Guard pilots made the single-engine landing feel routine,” he tweeted.
“No panic, just straight professionalism. After we landed, the pilots told me that was a first for them! We could not have been in better hands.”
He was spotted at the White House later Wednesday night, enjoying dinner in the Rose Garden with President Trump, lawmakers and administration officials.
While still Homeland Security Secretary, Noem defended her purchase as necessary.
“These aircraft are Coast Guard aircraft to replace 25-year-old airplanes that are necessary for the mission of the Coast Guard. Congress appropriated the dollars and paid for them in the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ and we’re grateful that we’re able to move forward,” she said.
The first jet was delivered in January, while the second has not yet arrived at DHS. It’s unclear why Mullin was on an older plane.
Noem, while at DHS, also leased a controversial $70 million jet for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reportedly to help deport migrants from the US.
However, Noem also used the luxury plane — which featured a queen bed, showers, a kitchen, and four large flat-screen TVs — personally, jetting around the country with Lewandowski.
Trump fired Noem in March, in part because of the drama around her and Lewandowski’s management at DHS and reports of their love affair.
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