Additional Coverage:
- Congressman gifts Kristi Noem a new blankie after she fired pilot for losing her old one (irishstar.com)
During a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing, Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz raised eyebrows with a rather unusual “gift” for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem: a new Coast Guard blanket. This playful gesture came amidst intense questioning of Noem, particularly concerning her alleged relationship with Corey Lewandowski, a longtime Trump strategist who serves as a special employee at DHS.
Moskowitz, after pressing Noem on the matter, declared he wanted to “end on a happy note.” He then presented the packaged blanket, telling Noem, “I got you a new Coast Guard blankie, the one you lost, so this is for you, you don’t leave empty-handed when you come to Judiciary.” Noem, perhaps taken aback, simply replied, “Thank you, I appreciate that.”
The exchange occurred during Noem’s second day of congressional testimony. Adding to the day’s drama, Noem’s husband, Bryon Noem, made a surprise appearance, sitting behind his wife despite needing to catch a plane shortly thereafter.
“I want to take a personal privilege and thank my husband for being here too,” Noem said in her opening remarks. “He’s going to have to go catch a flight in a few hours, but I am glad he could be here today.”
Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin also took aim at Noem regarding her association with Lewandowski and a government jet. Raskin sarcastically commented on “a big, beautiful jet paid for by the big, beautiful bill,” after criticizing Noem for the alleged purchase of a jet with a queen-sized bed.
Raskin further questioned Noem’s explanation that the jet would be refurbished for deportations to save taxpayer money. “In other words, you’re saying that’s actually a deportation plane.
But wouldn’t it have been cheaper just to buy a deportation plane in the first place?” he quipped, comparing the situation to “buying a Rolls-Royce to turn into a Metro bus.”
The representative then turned his focus back to the “blanket” incident, recounting an “airborne episode of entitlement, arrogance, and contempt.” He alleged that when Noem’s “special blanket, your blankie,” was left on a government jet, Lewandowski “chivalrously stepped forward to fire the pilot midair.”
Raskin identified the pilot as a “2003 Coast Guard Academy graduate and distinguished U.S. Coast Guard commander in Air Station Washington, D.C.,” adding that the pilot “had to be rehired immediately because there was no one else who could fly the two of you on the rest of the journey back home.”