U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) watchdog Charles Ward is seeking to probe into transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg’s use of taxpayer-subsidized private planes.
A memo issued on Monday by Ward revealed plans to audit Buttigieg’s frequent use of Federal Aviation Administration planes. Elaine Chao, the 41-year-old’s predecessor, will also face an audit over her use of the same government jets.
Watchdog to probe Pete Buttigieg's use of private government planes https://t.co/DwBIeAmMDA pic.twitter.com/2DCkN1AI81
— New York Post (@nypost) February 27, 2023
“[W]e 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,” Ward’s memo read. “The audit will focus on official trips taken since January 31, 2017. We plan to begin this audit shortly”.
A Buttigieg representative told The New York Post on Monday that the former Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, only used the private FAA planes when it was “more cost effective” than taking a commercial flight.
“We welcome this independent audit moving forward in order to put some of the false, outlandish, and cynical claims about the Secretary’s mode of travel to rest,” the spokesperson said.
“The fact remains that he flies commercially the vast majority of the time. The exceptions have been when the Department’s career ethics officials, who have served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, determined that the use of a 9-seat FAA plane would be either more cost effective or should be approved for exceptional scheduling or security reasons,” they added.
Buttigieg also responded to the audit in a tweet on Monday, saying, “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,” he added.
This comes as Buttigieg is under fire for mishandling the train derailment incident in East Palestine, Ohio, last month. A Norfolk Southern train was traveling through the town on Feb. 3 when it derailed, throwing about 50 cargo cars off the tracks. One-fifth of the derailed cars contained hazardous chemicals that ended up burning or being released into the air.
Buttigieg did not comment on the disaster until Monday, Feb. 13, about 10 days after the horrific accident took place.
“I continue to be concerned about the impacts of the Feb 3 train derailment near East Palestine, OH, and the effects on families in the ten days since their lives were upended through no fault of their own,” he tweeted at the time.
