(RightWing.org) – Fox News has uncovered evidence that suggests the Biden administration is trying to cover up details of how much the transportation secretary spends on government jets. The news agency says officials colluded to avoid releasing details they’d been asked for under freedom of information rules.
Addicted To Flying?
As Department of Transportation secretary, you’d expect Pete Buttigieg to know the best ways to get around the country. It turns out his personal favorite is to fly on one of the government’s fleet of executive jets. The aircraft, managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), are intended for use when officials can’t feasibly get a commercial flight. However, there are suspicions Buttigieg might have gotten a little too fond of the comfort and convenience of an executive jet. Last December the “New York Post” revealed that the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, had flown on private jets at the taxpayers’ expense 18 times in less than two years. Now questions are being asked about his use of the government fleet.
After the Post story, Fox News filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asking for details and costs of all flights on the FAA’s jet fleet since the Biden administration took office. After weeks of delays, the Department of Transport finally sent a response on February 27 — but the column for costs, which Fox had specifically asked for, was left blank. Fox repeatedly asked for this information, but it never arrived.
Cover Up Exposed
Meanwhile, a day after the inadequate response, Fox filed another FOIA request asking for all internal communications linked to the first request. It took nearly SEVEN MONTHS for those to be handed over, but Fox got them in the end — and they show officials scrabbling around to find a way to hide the cost of Buttigieg’s executive jet habit.
FAA executive Wil Riggins told other officials he’d discussed cost information with one of the agency’s senior attorneys; other emails show discussions of how to define the costs. It’s clear that officials inside the FAA were talking about how much Buttigieg had spent on flights, but when the information was finally released those costs were simply left out. Despite Fox asking for the data multiple times, their requests were simply ignored.
On September 12, Fox reported that Caitlin Sutherland, who runs the watchdog group Americans For Public Trust, said it’s “increasingly clear” the Biden administration is covering up for Buttigieg, and that they “wilfully ignore public disclosure laws.” If Buttigieg’s private flights are on our behalf, we should be able to know how much they cost. And if they aren’t, he shouldn’t be taking them.
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