Speed Reads

flying high

Steven Mnuchin spent $1 million on government flights last year, watchdog finds

The numbers are in. From March to November 2017, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin racked up a $1 million government bill for seven military jet flights, per documents obtained by a government watchdog group.

Mnuchin's private flights gained attention after his wife, Louise Linton, posted a photo of the pair's "day trip" to Kentucky on a government plane — a day trip to, coincidentally, the best viewing spot for August's solar eclipse. The upload sparked Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to request government records on how much that flight cost, along with records for every other one of Mnuchin's government flights.

The price tag for the eclipse viewing party? $33,046. Other notable trips include a $94,100 journey to West Virginia and Las Vegas, and two separate trips to Europe that cost more than $300,000 each.

Chartered flights cost Tom Price his job as health and human services secretary last September — and his trips only totaled about $400,000. Read more from CREW here.