This looks even worse when the details are shown ...
... 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 firm, Daedalus Aviation Corp., had bought the same plane a few months earlier from a seller who had asked for less than $90 million, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
At the same time, the agency agreed to buy two smaller Gulfstream luxury jets at prices that also seemed to yield a hefty profit for the seller. Daedalus spent about $83 million to buy the pair, but resold them to the agency for $106 million, the documents show.
The agency also paid the company $45 million apiece for a pair of 17-year-old Boeing 737 passenger planes, the documents show. The Times spoke to six aviation experts, who said that those prices were millions of dollars higher than the typical market value for jets of that age. ...
After taking over, Mullin explored backing out of the deal, according to two White House officials, but feared a significant financial penalty. The officials said that Mullin consulted White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who shared his concerns about the possible financial ramifications and told him that he should not seek to block the purchase. He did not.
Mullin's staff did not address specific questions about that account but provided a statement saying that "these planes were purchased prior to Secretary Mullin's arrival at DHS." ...
