Kristi Noem and Kash Patel are living the jet-set life—with sunglasses to match.
Noem, 53, and the embattled FBI director Patel, 45, spent Saturday night sitting in a life-size pink Lego Cadillac and posing on the carpet at the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix—amid escalating criticism of their private jet usage and lavish taste on the taxpayer dime.
That backlash didn’t deter Noem and Patel, a Las Vegas resident, from enjoying the races and strutting down the carpet, where Patel was reportedly heckled by a man shouting at him to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Noem paired her pink Lego Cadillac with some glamorous box shades apparently also made of Lego. For those wondering, the Lego car was not inspired directly by the Barbie movie, in which Margot Robbie drove a pink Chevrolet Corvette.
The two Trump officials then received a tour of the paddock from F1 officials, NBC reported.
“I’ve always kind of been a NASCAR fan and been learning a lot about F1 the last couple of years. And we’re excited to see everybody race,” Noem told the outlet. Patel chimed in to call Formula 1 “one of the greatest sports.”
It was not immediately clear how Noem and Patel traveled to and from the event—but critics were quick to point out that it was likely taxpaying Americans picking up the tab.
“Nice, taxpayers paid for another private jet trip and vacation for Kristi Noem and Kash Patel. Vegas Grand Prix baby!” one X user wrote in a post that has racked up almost 60,000 views.
Noem’s spending habits have fallen under scrutiny before. Earlier this month, the Trump official came under fire after the Wall Street Journal reported she attempted to order 10 Spirit Airlines jets to increase deportations and her own travel—before realizing the planes had no engines.
DHS officials, who cautioned Noem that the purchase was impractical and maintained that simply hiring additional flight contractors would be far less costly, looked deeper into the spending spree and realized that Spirit—which has filed for bankruptcy twice—didn’t own the planes in the first place, and that the engines would have to be purchased separately, according to the Journal.
Another X post on Monday read: “I cannot remember a time in my life where the acting FBI director was so present in the media and not in a work capacity. This dude is doing everything but his actual job. He’s acting like a private banker living the private jet life when his job is to fight crime.”
Patel—dubbed “Keystone Kash” for his bumbling oversight of several high-profile investigations—has been ridiculed for cashing in on the perks of his government post and flaunting them publicly.
The director has been embroiled in scandal since October, when reports revealed he took a $60 million government jet to watch his 27-year-old girlfriend Alexis Wilkins perform, thrusting his luxurious lifestyle into the spotlight.
On Sunday, a New York Times report revealed the embattled bureau chief flew into a rage after assigning a SWAT team from the bureau’s Atlanta field office to shadow his girlfriend at an event, only for her to ditch the assignment shortly thereafter.
“The assignment of SWAT-qualified special agents to guard his girlfriend are indicative of his lack of leadership experience, judgment and humility,” Christopher O’Leary, a former Marine and FBI agent who led a team that conducted “high-risk missions,” told the Times.
Bureau officials also told the Times that agents from the tactical team in Salt Lake City were ordered to provide a protective detail for Wilkins at an event in September—despite having just worked long hours amid the nearby killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
And just last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Patel flew to a luxury hunting resort in Texas during the record-breaking government shutdown.
The Daily Beast has reached out to DHS and the FBI for comment.
