Top Obama Officials Spent Nearly $1 Million On Non-Commercial Flights

Former heads of the Department of the Interior spent $971,643 chartering non-commercial flights over a six year period, according to documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar spent $586,196 on non-commercial flights over three years. Salazar took 48 such trips from 2010 to 2012 on Interior Department-owned and chartered aircraft, according to travel records. Salazar’s successor, former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, took 33 trips on non-commercial flights from 2013 to 2016. Jewell’s flights cost $385,438, according to Interior Department records prepared for congressional investigators. The news comes as top Trump administration officials take heat for chartering flights at taxpayer expense. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is one of those officials under fire. Zinke has spent $72,849 on non-commercial flights so far in 2017, including one $8,066 trip on an Interior Department-owned aircraft, according to records. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned in September after it came to light he spent $400,000 on non-commercial flights since May...more