Kristi Noem wants The New York Times to pull back a story about airplanes her agency agreed to buy as she was leaving the Department of Homeland Security. The paper reported that DHS purchased five aircraft from Daedalus Aviation Corporation, whose chairman is William Walters. Noem later called the reporting “factually incorrect” and “libelous.”
The Times said the purchases were approved on her last day leading the department. One of the planes was a Boeing 737 that had been turned into a large private jet. “The Department of Homeland Security agreed to pay the donor’s firm $108 million for a Boeing 737 airliner that had been converted into a massive private jet, complete with a stand-up bar, two bedrooms, marble showers and a table covered in manta ray skin,” the report said.
That same aircraft reportedly had been bought by Daedalus only months earlier for less than $90 million. The other four planes in the package were said to be two Gulfstream luxury jets and two Boeing 737 passenger planes, each sold to DHS at a hefty markup. Noem, now a special envoy at the State Department, “declined to answer specific questions about the sale or the prices that her agency had paid,” according to the Times.
The dispute centers on whether Walters counts as a donor
Noem followed the article with a written demand for a full retraction or a direct correction. “I write to formally request the retraction entirely or explicit correction of the article titled ‘Kristi Noem’s Agency Gave Her Donor a Lucrative Contract Just Before She Left,’” she wrote on X.
Her objection focused on the paper’s description of Walters. “The article’s characterization of the individual as a ‘donor’ (confirmed not to be the case) is materially misleading and, as unsupported by the factual record, conveys a false implication of a direct financial relationship obviously intended to influence official action,” she wrote.
She also argued that the wording fell short of the paper’s own standards. “Accuracy is fundamental to responsible journalism. 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,” Noem wrote.
In the same message, she said her side had already tried to correct the record. “Numerous times clarifications were made to the journalists responsible for this libelous story. Such wording unfairly prejudices readers and creates an inference of impropriety that is not supported by the underlying facts,” she wrote. That response left the reported prices and the contract itself unchallenged.
The Times tied the donor label to a $10,000 gift Walters made in 2024 to American Resolve, a political action committee connected to Noem. The company told the paper, “Mr. Walters did not know the group was associated with Ms. Noem at the time.” An archived version of the group’s homepage, the report said, showed it solely promoting Noem. The Times has faced scrutiny over its reporting, as when it reported on security concerns over the new Qatari Air Force One and those involved were ordered to appear before a grand jury.
The Times pushed back in a statement to Mediaite. “We stand by the characterization of the political donor and his firm. As our article makes clear, the Department of Homeland Security bought five airplanes from Daedalus at a substantial markup, a deal approved during Ms. Noem’s tenure. Daedalus’s chairman is William Walters, who gave $10,000 to the American Resolve political action committee, a group that existed to support Ms. Noem,” a spokesperson said.
The same Times report said Noem was fired from DHS in March amid controversies over immigration tactics and “questions about her agency’s awarding of contracts.” Noem’s troubles have extended beyond the DHS contract controversy, as the former DHS chief filed to end her 34-year marriage after an online scandal and White House firing.
More than $900 million of those contracts, the paper reported, went to companies led by Walters. Her successor, Markwayne Mullin, “explored backing out” of the airplane purchase and checked with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, “who shared his concerns about the possible financial ramifications,” the report said. The deal still went ahead as planned.
Published: Oct 5, 2026 07:50 am