Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has flown on taxpayer-funded private jets at least 18 times since 2021, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
Buttigieg is the guy who wants everyone to drive electric vehicles and be more environmentally friendly.
Will Buttigieg resign? A former Trump official resigned over the exact same practice:
Buttigieg has traveled across the country — visiting Florida, Ohio and New Hampshire, among other states — and out of the country using a private jet fleet managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to flight tracking data reviewed by Fox News Digital. The flight records align with Buttigieg’s schedule of external and public engagements obtained by government watchdog group Americans for Public Trust (APT).Buttigieg’s predecessor, Elaine Chao, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, faced criticism for using the same jets on seven occasions in 2017, costing taxpayers nearly $94,000, Politico reported at the time. And Trump-appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was forced to resign after reportedly taking 26 private jet flights that same year, costing taxpayers about $1.2 million.
Buttigieg used two Cessna 560XL private jets. Fox News listed a few trips:
Both parties in the House Oversight and Reform Committee started investigating Trump officials over their “use of government-owned and private aircraft for travel days before Price submitted his letter of resignation.”
The Republicans take over the House in January.
Will the Democrats join an investigation if the Republican leader of the Oversight Committee wants to open an investigation into Buttigieg’s use of these planes?
In April 2021, a camera caught Buttigieg unloading his bike from a huge SUV only a short distance from his destination.
Buttigieg obviously wanted to show off that he wanted to save energy.
The Department of Transportation has a way to justify Buttigieg’s use of private jets:
“Secretary Buttigieg mostly travels by commercial airline, and has directed that travel and logistical decisions be grounded in efficient and responsible use of taxpayer dollars,” a DOT spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Given that commercial air travel is usually the cheapest way for the Secretary and his staff to travel, 108 of the 126 flights for DOT trips he has taken have been on commercial airlines.””However, there are some cases where it is more efficient and/or less expensive for the Secretary and accompanying personnel to fly on a 9-seater FAA plane rather than commercial flights,” the spokesperson continued. “Use of the FAA plane in limited, specific cases has helped to maximize efficiency and save thousands of taxpayer dollars.”
The spokesperson did not say how much us taxpayers saved by Buttigieg using the private jets.
Why doesn’t the dude use his precious electric vehicles to travel across the country?
That’s a rhetorical question.
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