Buttigieg stonewalls key information on 23 govt jet trips amid inspector general probe Thomas Catenacci, Fox News
- March 6, 2023
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).
Like Sutherland, Michael Chamberlain, the director of another watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust, expressed concern at the agency’s apparent attempt to hide information from the public.
“Sadly, reports of unnecessary secrecy and selective release of information are all too common when discussing the self-proclaimed most transparent administration in history,” Chamberlain told Fox News Digital. “And it appears that the more high-profile the issue or event, the greater the efforts to hide the information the public deserves to know.”
“Contrary to what some agencies appear to believe, saving powerful officials from disclosure or embarrassment is not a legitimate reason to keep the public in the dark,” he continued.
“Considering the potential abuse of taxpayer funds at issue, a necessary first step toward restoring the public’s trust in its government is for the Department of Transportation to come clean as to exactly how many taxpayer dollars were used to fly Secretary Buttigieg around on non-commercial flights.”