Late last month the Transportation Department inspector general announced that Pete Buttigieg’s use of government jets for travel was being audited, and Buttigieg said he welcomed the truth being brought to light:
Glad this will be reviewed independently so misleading narratives can be put to rest.
Bottom line: I mostly fly on commercial flights, in economy class. And when I do use our agency’s aircraft, it’s usually a situation where doing so saves taxpayer money. https://t.co/wUtBtjx9CT
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) February 27, 2023
Buttigieg’s eager to put “misleading narratives” to rest, but not that eager:
NEW: Buttigieg stonewalls key information on 23 govt jet trips amid inspector general probe
Reporting from @ThomasCatenacci https://t.co/SJSCQpR4KB
— Cameron Cawthorne (@Cam_Cawthorne) March 6, 2023
It appears that one of the Biden administration’s biggest climate change warriors is in no rush to be transparent about private jet usage:
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has turned down repeated requests for information related to the taxpayer costs of 23 flights Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his advisers took on government private jets since taking office.
The DOT and the agency’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office both declined to detail how much each flight cost taxpayers over the course of multiple months and in recent weeks. The stonewalling comes amid an ongoing inspector general audit of Buttigieg’s use of the planes, which are part of a small fleet managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
So much transparency!
.@ThomasCatenacci filed a FOIA request with DOT shortly after his Dec. 12 report on Buttigieg taking 18 flights on FAA planes.
For more than 2 months the DOT FOIA office delayed providing detailed info he requested, including costs of all FAA planes since early 2021.
— Cameron Cawthorne (@Cam_Cawthorne) March 6, 2023
When information was released under FOIA the cost to taxpayers was not included (shocker).
After more than 2 months of stonewalling and claiming in one instance that a key employee was out of the office, the DOT FOIA office sent over info (the costs of the flights left blank) to @ThomasCatenacci less than 3 hrs after WaPo reported on inspector general investigation.
— Cameron Cawthorne (@Cam_Cawthorne) March 6, 2023
And how long will the government’s “audit” of Buttigieg’s private jet use take? Probably quite a while.
This stonewalling should be “maddening” to Buttigieg, but he’s too busy getting upset about the coverage of his shoes and lashing out because of Americans are fed up with his incompetence. https://t.co/9ptAgEtrIL
— e-beth (@ebeth360) March 6, 2023
Go figure.
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Related:
The Hill says transportation is a nightmare for Buttigieg but it is the other way around.
Pete Buttigieg ‘alarmed’ by what GOPer wrote about NTSB (NTSB Chair’s fact-check, not so much)
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