Some Trips Being Reviewed

The use of government airplanes by two senior Trump administration officials has been called into question, with one falling under investigation by an Inspector General.

MSN News reports that one of the cases under scrutiny involves a trip on a government plane from Washington to Fort Knox, KY by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. While Mnuchin says that the purpose of the trip was official business, he did take advantage of the opportunity to view the total solar eclipse with his wife last month. That is the trip that has drawn the scrutiny of an Inspector General. He also reportedly requested a government aircraft for a European honeymoon, but eventually did not do so.

Journalists at Politico are looking into five charter trips by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price between Washington D.C. and several cities in the northeast, including Philadelphia. Those trips spanned three days and cost an estimated $60,000.

Government policy states that charter flights are to be used only when there is not a readily available commercial flight, which would preclude such short hops around the northeast. Not only are commercial flights available, but there is also the (government subsidized. ed) Amtrak train service.

Price's spokespersons have declined to comment to Politico in their probe.

FMI: Original Story