(Headline USA) The Biden administration is reportedly withholding the release of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s flight records that document his use of a taxpayer-funded private jet, according to a government watchdog.
Buttigieg has been under investigation by the Transportation Department inspector general for allegedly misusing government jets. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed last year that Buttigieg has used a private jet at least 18 times since being sworn in.
However, the FAA is refusing to provide additional details of Buttigieg’s trips, prompting Americans for Public Trust to file a lawsuit against the agency this week.
According to the lawsuit, the FAA has improperly delayed the release of Buttigieg’s flight records on three separate Freedom of Information Act requests. The first, filed in November, requested information detailing all flight logs and passenger manifests for all three of the private jets under the FAA’s control.
The second, filed in January, sought records for every flight taken by a White House official, executive branch official, or member of Congress. The last FOIA request, filed just days after the second, asked the FAA to include information about any other jets used by executive officials.
The FAA responded to the requests by setting multiple deadlines for when it would turn over the records, but each time failed to actually turn over the records.
“The FAA has not communicated with APT concerning whether the FAA will fulfill its FOIA requests since missing two self-imposed extended deadlines of May 1 and May 18, 2023,” the lawsuit stated. “Nor has the FAA provided any indication as to when APT can expect its requests to be processed.”
APT said the “only documents” the FAA has produced were documents “previously produced in response to a FOIA request from a different party, and the documents produced are not fully responsive to all three of APT’s requests.”
