It’s a bad day for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The Washington Post debunked his claim Trump is responsible for the Ohio train derailment.
Now the Transportation Inspector General opened an investigation into his usage of government planes for private use.
A Fox News Digital article on December 12, 2022, exposed Buttigieg. Sen. Marco Rubio sparked the investigation when he requested the IG look into the data cited by Fox News.
The IG will investigate data from 2017 to now. Gotta stick the Trump administration in there!
The memo is only two paragraphs:
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has a fleet of aircraft that are operated and maintained by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel. FAA uses these aircraft to perform multiple missions, including transportation for DOT and FAA senior executives. The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) guidance1 to executive department heads allows executives to travel on Government aircraft but with restrictions. The guidance states that, to minimize cost and improve the management and use of Government aviation resources, Government aircraft shall be used only for official travel or on a space available basis, subject to certain policies and authorizations. This applies to all Government-owned, leased, chartered, and rental aircraft and related services operated by executive agencies.On December 16, 2022, citing news reports regarding the Secretary of Transportation’s travel on Government aircraft, Senator Marco Rubio requested that we determine whether the Secretary’s use of Government aircraft for domestic and international travel complied with all applicable Federal regulations and DOT policies and procedures. Accordingly, we will conduct an audit to determine whether the Office of the Secretary complied with Federal regulations, policies, and procedures regarding executive travel on DOT aircraft. The audit will focus on official trips taken since January 31, 2017. We plan to begin this audit shortly and will contact your audit liaison to schedule an entrance conference. We will conduct our work at DOT headquarters and other sites as needed.
The Fox News report found that Buttigieg took “at least 18 flights using taxpayer-funded private jets since taking office.” He took these flights to Florida, Ohio, New Hampshire, other states, and out of the country. The report also said the data “align with Buttigieg’s schedule of external and public engagements obtained by government watchdog group Americans for .”
During his short tenure, Trump’s then-HHS Secretary Tom Price came under fire for using 26 private jets. His flights cost taxpayers $1.2 million. Price resigned after House Democrats and Republicans Oversight Committee members opened an investigation.
Trump Transportation Secretary Elaine Choi used the same jets seven times in 2017, costing $94,000.
We don’t know how much Buttigieg costs the taxpayers. The FAA charges agencies almost $5,000 per hour.
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