Treasury probing $25K Mnuchin flight from New York to DC

Treasury Department investigators are probing an Aug. 15 trip taken by Secretary Steven Mnuchin from New York to Washington, D.C., in which he used a government jet that cost American taxpayers at least $25,000, ABC News reported on Friday.

Mnuchin flew up to New York commercially and returned to Washington on an Air Force C-37 jet, which took less than an hour, according to the report. 

The news comes as multiple Trump Cabinet officials, including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, are under scrutiny for their transportation.

“We welcome the [Office of the Inspector General’s] review and are ensuring the office has everything needed for a full evaluation of our travel procedures,” the Treasury Department said in a statement to ABC News. 

{mosads}Defense Department officials told ABC News that records show Mnuchin’s office had asked to use the jet, and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao was added to the request. 

The two Cabinet members were traveling back from Trump Tower, where they appeared alongside the president in a now infamous news conference in which he doubled down on his previous statement saying that “both sides” were responsible for racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Va. 

The report comes after it was revealed earlier this month that the Treasury Department’s inspector general was also probing a trip taken to Kentucky by Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton aboard a government airplane, which coincided with the total eclipse last month.

ABC reported earlier this month that Mnuchin had also requested to use a government jet on his European honeymoon with Linton this summer.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General is also investigating that request, which the department said was needed for a “secure line of communication.”

“The Secretary is a member of the National Security Council and has responsibility for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence,” the spokesman said in a statement. “It is imperative that he have access to secure communications, and it is our practice to consider a wide range of options to ensure he has these capabilities during his travel, including the possible use of military aircraft.”

On Thursday, Politico reported that Price has spent some $300,000 of taxpayer money on private air travel since February, including trips to Nashville, Tenn., and Aspen, Colo.