WASHINGTON Donald Trump s presidential reelection campaign chartered jets to fly in VIPs to attend his much-hyped but ultimately flopped Oklahoma rally on Saturday, including his pro-Brexit ally Nigel Farage, who was given a national interest waiver to enter the country despite the coronavirus travel ban.

Farage, who recently lost his radio show in Britain after comparing Black Lives Matter protesters to the Taliban , was flown from Palm Beach, Florida, to Tulsa for the evening rally, and then to New York City, according to an informal Trump adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity.

This was supposed to be a festival to celebrate Trump and Trumpism, and it laid an egg, the adviser said, adding that more than 100 high-profile guests had been flown in and put up in hotels on the campaigns dime.

How much the campaign or the Republican National Committee paid for Farage and the other invited guests to fly to the rally and stay in Tulsa is unclear. Neither the campaign nor the RNC responded to HuffPost queries on the matter, and filings that could shed some light on that question are not due at the Federal Election Commission until July 20.

Neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security would explain what national interest was served by allowing in Farage solely to let him attend a Trump rally.

His presence in Palm Beach a photo of which was posted to his Twitter account Saturday morning and at the rally has piqued the interest of House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who on Monday asked DHS to produce documents explaining Farages entry.

The decision of the Trump Administration to admit Mr. Farage to the United States to enable him to attend a campaign rally at a time when most travel from the United Kingdom to the U.S. has been suspended raises numerous troubling questions, Thompson wrote.

Farage, who had already returned to Britain on Monday, could not be reached for comment. He has for several years been popular with white nationalist groups both in the U.K. and the United States. He led the United Kingdom Independence Party and its successful push for that country to leave the European Union, which Trump also supported. Farage appeared at a Trump rally in Mississippi in 2016 , and then visited the president-elect at Trump Tower after the November election.

One top Republican donor, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said he could not understand the value of spending campaign funds to ferry Farage around. I dont know why theyd waste money on that, he said.

The chartered flights would add additional tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of the rally, which included a massive outdoor stage with concert-quality sound for an expected overflow crowd that never materialized, a daylong onsite party of food and music, and even a street festival for the surrounding blocks that would have featured other speakers and musicians.

The off-site plans fell by the wayside last week when it became clear that protesters against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month would also descend on Trumps appearance.