Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is officially under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General after taking a series of private jet trips while conducting official government business. The investigation comes after Republican Senator Marco Rubio increased pressure on the agency to hold Buttigieg accountable.
"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 Transportation OIG released in a memo Monday. "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."
🚨🚨🚨
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) February 27, 2023
This is a huge deal - @SecretaryPete is going to be investigated for private flight usage as he comes closer and closer to the number of private flights Tom Price was forced to resign over. https://t.co/pUQ0Crnrh7
The investigation will reach back as far as 2017, when Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao held the position.
On September 29, 2017, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was forced to resign after his private jet use. Them media classified the situation as a "scandal."
Will Buttigieg also resign? Or will President Joe Biden let him slide.
Up until now, Buttigieg claims he did nothing wrong by taking private transportation and his staff argues he saved taxpayers money by doing so.