Buttigieg says he ‘welcomes’ review of his use of government jet

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Tuesday that he “welcomes” a recently announced review of his use of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) jets in order to “get past the politics.”

The Transportation Department’s inspector general announced on Monday that it would be auditing Buttigieg’s use of the government aircraft and whether he “complied with Federal regulations, policies, and procedures,” in response to a request from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in December.

Buttigieg told CNN on Tuesday that he travels on commercial airlines in economy class the “vast majority of the time.” The remaining 10 to 20 percent of the time, Buttigieg said he uses the Department of Transportation’s jet.

“When we use our agency’s aircraft, this is not chartering a private jet,” he added. “This is a government aircraft that is assigned to the FAA.”

While Buttigieg said he and his staff occasionally travel in the FAA jet due to “a security or logistical issue,” they typically do so because it’s cheaper.

“The number one reason we would use that agency aircraft is that it actually works out to be less expensive for taxpayers than then the commercial airline tickets would be,” he told CNN.

“We keep very meticulous records on that so precisely so that if somebody wants to look at it, somebody wants to audit it, it’s well documented,” Buttigieg added. “So, I welcome that independent look so that we can get past the politics of this and make sure everybody understands the facts.”

Rubio requested the audit based on a Fox News report from December that found that Buttigieg had taken at least 18 flights on the FAA jets. According to The Washington Post, the flights for Buttigieg and his staff cost $41,905.20.