Internal government communications obtained by Fox News Digital paint a disturbing picture of the Biden administration’s attempts to protect Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and to hide the true cost of his extravagant taxpayer-funded private jet travel. Despite appearing to be actively engaged in purposeful political meddling, officials within the Federal Aviation Administration’s independent office, responsible for handling Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, have been assisted by a spokesperson for Buttigieg and a senior FAA official appointed by President Biden in their attempts to avoid disclosing the taxpayer costs of Buttigieg’s flights. This deliberate flouting of public disclosure laws by the Biden administration is yet another example of the left’s “rules for thee, but not for me” attitude towards public office.
Last December, Fox News Digital reported that Buttigieg had taken a staggering 18 trips on an FAA-managed fleet of executive aircraft, reserved for government officials when flying commercially is not feasible. In response, Fox filed an FOIA request for detailed information and costs of all flights logged by FAA planes since early 2021. For months, the DOT FOIA office repeatedly delayed providing this crucial information. Eventually, on Feb. 27, the FAA was finally forced to share flight logs for its private jets almost immediately after the Transportation Department’s inspector general announced an investigation into Buttigieg’s use of the planes.
However, the FOIA office chose to leave all costs associated with Buttigieg’s flights blank and ignored multiple attempts for clarification. In response, Fox News Digital filed a second FOIA request, asking for all internal communications related to the first request from December. These communications, obtained earlier this month, show that officials repeatedly delayed and obstructed the FOIA request process, with emails discussing how to sort data enabling them to avoid disclosing the true cost of Buttigieg’s private jet travel. Vice President of the FAA Flight Program Operations office, Wil Riggins, even contacted Transportation Department spokesperson Benjamin Halle and FAA Assistant Administrator for Communications Matthew Lehner, appointed by Biden himself, to arrange a conference call discussing the FOIA request. This call took place less than an hour later.
The communications reveal that Riggins repeatedly delayed giving his final signature on the FOIA production for reasons unknown to lower-level FOIA managers. At one point, a senior adviser to Riggins arranged a phone call with a lower-level manager who had inquired about the delay; a week later, when he was asked whether the FOIA records had been given a final signature, Torgerson the FOIA manager said he “advised that their Deputy VP can sign on behalf of the VP.” After further back-and-forth, Torgerson was informed on Feb. 27 that Riggins had finally signed off on the records, allowing them to be shared with Fox News Digital. Four minutes later, The Washington Post, citing information given to it by the Department of Transportation, scooped the agency’s inspector general had opened an investigation into Buttigieg.
Despite questions from Fox News Digital about why the taxpayer costs of Buttigieg’s flights were omitted, the FOIA office failed to respond, instead discussing the issue offline. “The FAA follows FOIA requirements and regulations which include ensuring a complete response,” the FAA said in a statement to Fox News Digital. This response is disingenuous at best, deliberate obstruction at worst, and once again shows that the Biden administration is willing to manipulate the system to protect one of its own. The American people deserve transparency and honesty from their government, not the kind of political interference that has characterized the administration’s approach to Buttigieg’s private jet travel.
