The US Department of Transportation’s Secretary Pete Buttigieg is known for spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on his lavish private jet flights, but a recent inquiry into the purpose of his trips showed they may not have all been for business.
Due to suspicion that he may have abused his power to get a couple of free trips out of his jet privileges, an investigation was launched into the nature of his fairly common trips.
This will determine exactly how many taxpayer dollars were wasted and if he could have at least spent less of them.
Buttigieg under fire for irresponsible usage of taxpayer funding
The investigation wouldn’t have happened, had it not been for Senator Marco Rubio, who was curious about Buttigieg’s constant flaunting of the rules regarding the usage of FAA planes.
Pete Buttigieg is the smuggest, rudest, most condescending brat. You are not a celebrity, Pete, you work for us.
Buttigieg refuses to talk to reporter: “I’m taking some personal time right now.”pic.twitter.com/ePVCLMiu4I
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) February 22, 2023
In fact, Rubio himself only found out about Buttigieg’s suspicious travels from a Fox report back in December. Now, over two months later, the Department of Transportation is launching a full-scale investigation into it.
This will help the department determine whether the secretary actually complied with all the federal regulations and rules that he demands everyone else to follow.
The department’s principal assistant inspector, Charles Ward, explained that Rubio demanded him to do a thorough examination of Buttigieg’s travel habits and whether he’s stepped out of line when it comes to spending taxpayer money on private trips he should’ve funded himself.
Eco-friendly with a private jet? We don’t think so.
As it turns out, Buttigieg isn’t exactly eco-friendly either, even though he’s been a long-time opponent of oil and gas. Reports show his carbon footprint is of far greater size than that of an average American.
Pete Buttigieg says his excessive use of taxpayer-funded private jets is okay because he’s using “a government aircraft that is assigned to the FAA.” pic.twitter.com/tnlFiHyxcy
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 28, 2023
His continued trips across the country have burned up tens of thousands of liters of jet fuel. While seeing these hypocrites run into their own traps has become fairly common, it’s insulting to the rest of us that use fuel responsibly.
In fact, ever since Buttigieg became the secretary of the department, he’s apparently used his airplane privileges 18 times and that’s just the ones we know of.
Later versions of the report showed most of his destinations were swing states, meaning the purpose of his visit may have been partisan after all.
And today on the newest episode of “What Does It Take To Get Mayor Pete Fired?”, the DOT is investigating Pete Buttigieg’s extensive private jet travel despite the fact that he argues in favor of aggressive action on “climate change”.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) February 28, 2023
However, other trips include a flight to Canada, where he attended an event for LGBT activism and where he was rewarded for his work in advancing the progress of LGBTQ rights in modern society.
The issue lies in the fact he could’ve made this trip for significantly less, had he simply followed the rules. One hour of flight with the FAA costs around $5,000, whereas a standard domestic ticket only costs barely above $200.
Despite the numbers being right in their face, the FAA continued to claim only a single one of the secretary’s flights was more expensive than the commercial alternative that was available.
In contrast to Buttigieg, his counterpart from the Trump administration only used the FAA planes a grand total of seven times, with each of the trips being partisan in nature.
This article appeared in The Record Daily and has been published here with permission.
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