Even when people like Mnuchin are corporate executives, American citizens subsidize their lavish lifestyles in the form of "business expenses." These "executive perks" and extraordinary compensation comes out of our pockets in the form of higher taxes and reduced safety nets for the poor, elderly, and needy in our country. Wall Street has always been rife with this sort of lavish waste and it has only gotten FAR worse in the years since I left the financial services industry.
From Wall Street it has permeated just about every corner of business. We have Congress to thank for this corproate largess.
11
A little off topic but...it gives me great hope to read the well worded and thoughtful comments on this and many other sites. It recenters me, and leads me to believe that with engaged, educated and concerned citizens still on a vigilant watch, somehow this nightmare will be okay someday. I hope and pray that day is soon.
9
Think of it this way, if you or I were found stealing or bilking the Federal Gov't out of $800,000 dollars, we would be imprisoned.
18
@Mnuchin @POTUS You do know that Treasury is not your personal bank, right? Marcos made that mistake decades ago, and we all know how his administration ended. The funds were paid from the American people's taxes. Their money. Not yours. This may be hard to remember, but please try
11
'The report found that “there is no indication that the date was chosen to coincide with the solar eclipse.”'
Of course not!!
'It said that Mr. Mnuchin had asked for a Gulfstream 550 military jet in case the runway at Fort Knox was wet and because a plane with “communications capabilities is requested in the event that the secretary’s participation on a call during travel arises.” The flight cost $26,900.25.'
God knows how important it is for a treasury secretary not to be out of communication for 90 minutes.
Let's face it. Some people are just disgusting. Some people just lie. Trump and his administration, for one.
12
This gives new meaning to the term "drain the swamp."
5
Mnuchin provides DJT with cover by way of his oleaginous words on all topics, especially those related to the president's flagrantly anti-semitic behavior. When there was no Gary Cohn, there was ol' reliable Steve Mnuchin (Charlottesville). He is too precious a tool for Trump to let go. He also knows this, and is taking advantage of it.
5
Drain the swamp.........right, Trump voters? But Obama wore a beige suit once!
4
I've said this before. This Cabinet is full of people who are accustomed to the "tradition" where, once primoted to the C-suite, you get the keys to the executive washroom and use of the corporate jet. They literally don't see this as any different.
16
Please, then, tell us the next time what the C-suite is. Some of us
haven't yet reached your level .
3
These aren't the same guys who told me we couldn't afford Bernie's plan to provide low-cost college educations to citizens are they?
9
He should either repay the entire cost out of his own money or resign.
10
Clearly, you do not understand self-importance and
the optics of superiority.
5
It's sad that Mnuchin couldn't dig deeper into his $100 million bank account for the cost of a dozen or so commercial flights. Instead, his overinflated sense of entitlement leads him to pick our pockets to fly privately and at great taxpayer expense. Such travel might not be illegal, but is it fiscally responsible or even ethical? Where are the adults in the room to turn off the spigot before this band of deplorable cabinet members bleed us dry?
11
Jenni Miller did us all a stupendous favor by calling attention to Ms. Linton's posted photo with her uncircumspect list of attire on social media. It was the red flag.
(.....Mnuchin says to Linton as they view the gold in Fort Knox....'honey, it's ours, all ours and there's more where that came from!')
The photo of their later visit to Norfolk has a much different flavor, suggesting that they may have been coached. They traveled on the same airline, however.
9
Wow, we paid for billionaires to go look at gold! no wonder he forced his wife to apologize for blowing up the spot.
5
So if you wastefully gush out taxpayer money on private flights, you're a crook; when you wastefully gush out taxpayer money on military flights (the money is the same, it spends the same and costs the same) you're not a crook.
I don't get it.
8
Ah, but when the going gets rough,
it keeps him aware of his own superiority
2
WHY ARE YOU FLYING AT ALL TO HAVE A MEETING?
Normal people do not need to physically be in the same room to have a meeting. There are conference calls and Skype and all the other wonders of telecommunication that 2017 has to offer. For meetings, they should have to justify the importance of their physical presence.
40
Let him go. It's his coming back that's a pain.
4
Perhaps Mr. Mnuchin can reimburse the government for this extravagance. Remember, he 'forgot' to disclose nearly $100 million in assets on his financial disclosure documents in January. If he can 'forget' $100 million, he won't miss $0.8 million.
62
The Media has it wrong regarding Trump and "draining the swamp". Why? Because until Trump rids many in his Cabinet and Congress get rid of Trump - Trump and they will continue to "drain the U.S. Treasury".
12
Thank you, NYT, and all free press, for continuing to shine a light on this administrations shadowy deeds.
With Congress unwilling and/or unable to save us from them, it is only the Fourth Estate that will.
20
There seems to be different measurement on the use of private or military jets by the various White House scoundrels. Tom Price gets the boot, but Mnuchin is OK as is Pruitt. Is that because Trump wanted Price gone?
All egregious and obscene use of aircraft used primarily as a badge of honor and hubris by the various cabinet-level people.
The next election will wipe these miscreants from the ballot.
They should be forced to resign and spend time in jail for abusing their privilege.
11
Trump brings to Government the monumental egos of x-CEO's. Truly a level of accustomed luxury very, very few people could comprehend. This bunch hadn't heard the word NO ... in decades from subordinates.
No matter if they're tapping Corporate funds to fuel their royal lifestyles ... or draining tax dollars ... it's all they know.
A truly rich basket of Deplorable's!
11
"Truly a level of accustomed luxury very, very few people could comprehend."
WORSE YET, THEY CAN'T COMPREHEND THAT (OR WHY)
WE THINK OF THEM THAT WAY.
2
Mnuchin should resign immediately! I am outraged at the wanton waste of our tax payer dollars. This didn't fly with Tom Price and it shouldn't fly half as far with Mnuchin.
Mr Mnuchin, your services are no longer required! President Trump has a catch phrase for you, please collect it on your way out.
22
President Trump's campaign promise to "drain the swamp" in reality has become install platinum liner and fill it with greedy bus size elitist monsters gorging themselves on the public purse. Nor does the Treasury Department's spokesperson's statement of Mr. Munchin's need for "secure communications" or the Inspector Generals' findings justify spending $15,112 for a telephone call which should have been scheduled either before or after his flight.
But President Trump cannot condemn his senior aides and cabinet members lavish waste of the public's money when he wastes tens to hundreds times MORE on trips to his Mar A Lago estate and another luxury locations which just so happens bears his name.
54
"Le swamp, c'est moi !"
3
These amounts pale in comparison to the costs run up by Trump and his family since he entered the WH at the beginning of this year. 4 years worth would probably help pay for a good part of the Puerto Rico reconstruction cost.
35
The hypocrisy of the Republicans is breathtaking. This is the same guy that's trying to rob more money from working people through "tax reform" to reward his buddies rolling in cash. Fiscal conservatism my eye!
19
These cost data are very misleading, especially as compared to Price's travels.
Most of the cost to taxpayers of Mnuchin's Military transport is incurred whether Mnuchin travels or not - the military personnel who fly/service/secure the plane are paid regardless, and the depreciation costs of the military aircraft are written-off whether the aircraft is in the air or on the ground.
The only out-of-pocket costs to taxpayers for his trips on military aircraft is the cost of fuel, landing fees, and perhaps some overtime for Secret Service or other salaried security personnel. No doubt these actual costs were greater than the cost of commercial tickets, but a tiny fraction of the fully-allocated costs implied by the $800K calculation.
In Prices's case, however, the entire $400K was real, out-of-pocket costs to taxpayers. We paid a king's ransom to NetJets or their competitors to haul him and his entourage hither and yon.
Mnuchin and Price are apples and oranges.
Give him a choice: pay it back or resign. America wins either way.
11
These people have never heard of teleconferencing? Used extensively in business settings.
13
Yet another thing conservatives, conservative media and conservative politicians would be in absolutely hysterics over if this were a Democrat, yet they all say... nothing.
14
Why isn't Secretary Mnuchin getting the same scrutiny as Secretary Price?
12
Steven Mnuchin is worth a couple of billion dollars so why should we pay for his travel expenses, including a honeymoon and a trip to Fort Knox to see the eclipse of the sun? Mnuchin should be eclipsed by the president and the American people the way Tom Price was.
13
If DeVos can use her own private jet, without cost to taxpayers, why can't the rest of this 'Champagne Cabinet' do the same?
7
How do we get this gang of grifters out of our government and our pockets?
Clearly their Republican enablers in Congress aren't willing to step up and do their job. The number of scandals in the first 9 months of this administration that would have toppled previous ones grows daily. We risk becoming inured to constant waves of dishonesty and incompetence rolling over our country.
12
Mnuchin is a master of beating the taxpayers, & the USA. He has hidden his enormous wealth off shore to avoid paying Taxes, so a little thing like beating the country out of $800.000 for the illegal use of Government transportation is chicken feed for him.Having him as Treasury Secretary is like the Fox guarding the Chicken Coup.Then again, what can you expect when the President has never shown his Tax Returns, as he is obviously hiding his financial manipulations.
11
And they say the liberal coastal elites treat Middle America as fly over country. Here is a guy who spends all his time redistributing wealth from the middle class to the 1% while, literally, flying over them, on their dime. He doesn't need to MAGA, it's fine where he is, in first class.
15
I guess the old saying: "to the victor belongs the spoils" also holds true for multi-millionaires like Mnuchin. If they stop using military and charter aircraft, there may be some more money for the CHIP program. Pity our children have to suffer so that Mnuchin, Price, and others can travel in luxury.
Where are our priorities!
To quote the current President: SAD!
39
Of course he took advantage of the most expensive way to travel even though using military air crafts was not a necessity. He has the check book and coffers of the treasury at his disposal. Not to mention he wanted to impress his new "young" bride.
9
The foreclosure king strikes again.
12
I thought Mnuchin was very rich.
Now I realized that he considers our money as his and so he is very rich.
14
The thing is this man has more money than god but still it isn't enough. He has to have these perks to fill the empty black hole inside him. Flying around the country wasting our money and wasting fuel for no purpose but because he can.
Just like the rest of the soulless and worthless grifters that make up the cabinet and the Trump family.
13
Drain the swamp? Trump's swamp has grown to the point it makes Hurricane Harvey's Houston look like a puddle.
10
In this Gilded Age of the U.S. Presidency no one should be surprised if, at some point, a story comes out that Trump cabinet members flew to the same location for the same event but insisted on using separate multiple military or private charter jets because they couldn't all leave D.C. at the exact same minute.
7
I'm sure this is how things have always operated in The Swamp. The great thing about Trump's presidency is now everybody is all up in arms (think about that 2nd amendment opponents) about it.
Perhaps an unintentional Reformer, but this is what Trump is shaping up to be, it seems.
1
Republicans love welfare--for themselves.
How often did we read about these things during the Obama 8?
38
"including a $15,000 round-trip flight to New York to meet with President Trump at Trump Tower" Don't they both work in the same building in Washington DC?
64
Next door! A two minute walk.
But sometimes it's nice to go to NYC for dinner at a cost of $15,00o to the taxpayers. Surely you understand that, you clueless peasant.
19
Marie Antoinette reportedly had diamonds on the soles of her shoes....something Mrs. Mnuchin envies, bragging to 'Town and Country' about the many, fabulous diamonds she'd be wearing on her honeymoon. A flight which - if taxpayers had to foot the bill as requested - would have cost a mere $25,000 per hour.
In her words, New York Times writers must be "adorably out of touch" to question her privilege - no, her right - to flaunt her wealth.
And all on the taxpayers' dime.
"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"
NOT my president
29
Not so much HER wealth, but the wealth of this nation. I probably pay more taxes than she does.
5
Our tax dollars at work. I'm at a loss to explain why the trips are approved. Saving taxpayer money is a nonpartisan issue. Why can't White House officials stand up to little men like the Treasury Secretary?
23
Adorably out of touch. Perhaps someone needs to explain the concept of re-scheduling to Mr. Mnuchin. If a secure call needs to take place, schedule it for a time when you're not aboard a plane. Millions of ordinary people manage to fly daily and are "off-line" for the duration. There's simply no excuse for this exorbitant waste of tax dollars.
38
I am using coupons to by groceries to help make ends meet and 15% of my income pays for this?
103
Don't forget, in the end he may pay less taxes than we do, too.
5
And you will lose even more purchasing power under the GOP/Trump tax savagery.
3
These .01 percenters must find the very thought of having to mingle with the "great unwashed" on typical commercial airline flights revolting. This privileged state of mind is but one more example of the total disconnect between the isolated lives of the wealthy in present day America and the rest of the population, itself a result of the deepening, dangerous, extreme, economic inequality existing in the country.
The recent startling comment by Trump's chief economic advisor Cohn, himself a multi, multi millionaire son of Wall Street, that with their meager $1,000.00 tax cut under the Administration's proposed tax plan middle class Americans will be able to purchase homes, take vacations, etc. spoke volumes about the isolation/insulation of these plutocrats and their totally narrow world view and priorities. "Let them fly on crowded coach" would be an appropriate modern equivalency of their aristocratic disdain for the everyday proletariat. MAGA!!
15
Has anyone, anyone at all, in that den of thieves heard of video conferencing? Do they not have phones? No matter which way you look at it, with this bunch of destructive, grandstanding gangsters, we loose. Never have we tax payers paid so much to have someone do such great harm to us. Talk about adding insult to injury. Every day I pray this nightmare will end, but every day I wake up to find it is just steadily getting worse. I can't even imagine where the bottom will be.
29
Video conferencing is for lower level employees who have to deal with budget cuts and travel restrictions. The Drain the Swamp people get to abuse our taxes because they look at the government as one big free store where they can have anything they want and not pay for it. Just look at that big jet the President took to Puerto Rico and didn't bring back not even one ill or dying American citizen. Not even one.
2
Oh, Come on folks. THIS guy IS the one percent. We can't expect him to live, and travel like a regular person. Even when we are paying. Tighten your belts, count your pennies, live small. Only the RICH deserve to live large, but the Trump entourage makes YOU pay. Seriously.
13
Apparently, Trump meant he was going to drain the swamp of its money.
25
The entire US government is out of whack, term limits need to be imposed on each and every position in government.
Nancy Pelosi was flying back and forth across the US when she was Leader of the House, each and every one of these bueracrates that gets a little power and privilege takes advantage of it.
"Lord Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." ( or women, we don't want to exclude anyone )
3
Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the House and traveled with secret service, the same as Newt Gingrich. There is no comparison to the 3rd in line for the presidency and a cabinet member. This WH is out of control. The rich appointees are looking at their dear leader and seeing a man who "deserves" to travel and live a certain way so why shouldn't they? Is there no one at the Dept of Ethics since Walter Shaub quit that can rein this in?
3
Her constituents live in Cali. Was she taking private jets or military aircraft for each of these trips? Didn't all of the GOP reps fly back to their districts too. Could you be a little clearer on how Pelosi was abusing her position? Did she rack up $800,000 in travel fees in 8 months?
1
Was Pelosi taking military plans, private jets or commercial aircraft? Who paid the bill? She lives in California and works in D.C. Did you expect her to drive across the country?
2
"Drain the Swamp" was a signature Trump campaign refrain. But like most of Trump's statements, he had no idea what to do after. Well, now we see. After draining the swamp, he refilled it with fetid bile.
6
Rather than draining the swamp, the Highchair King is now polluting the sky.
8
Imagine for one moment if this had been the Obama administration?
The outrage from the right would be heard on the moon.
But because Trump has that magical (R) behind his name, crickets
19
Trump and his team doing what they promised...draining the swamp...of cash.
8
Yeah, but it's Puerto Rico that's wasting money and has "thrown our budget out of whack."
90
The plebeians have no access to military planes? Let them fly commercial coach.
3
The stench from the swamp that is the Trump administration just seems to be getting greater and greater.
I have given up hope that his supporters will actually begin to recognize Trump, his family and most (but not all) in his administration are grifters & con artists at best and criminals at worst.
6
Remove the foreclosure king, he's robbing the treasury for his arrogant assumption "he's entitled"; Not to our tax dollars.
7
How can he think it wouldn't go public. Excessive Hubris!
4
It seems this administration is busy draining the Treasury.
7
Another day another scandal. Is anyone surprised that Trump's Cabinet of, for, and by the .01% expects to fly on private jets? You really think a guy like Mnuchin and his trophy wife would deign to fly commercial with the masses?
Not even a year into this Administration and I'm exhausted from all the winning.
12
And the swamp gets deeper and wider. How great America is becoming!
4
Ah! The Munchkins! They are not small in stature as in Oz, but they certainly are tall in expenditures.
3
Let's just call the Trump Administration = The Big Taxpayer Ripoff....Bunch of morally bankrupt individuals...
6
oops! Looks like we forgot about the air swamp.
5
This piece needs more info on how Cabinet secretaries in the Obama Administration
i have a few words to share with Mr. Munchkin and his gold brick road flights of fantasy, but unfortunately this is not a secure form of communication, and if it was, i don't thing the nytimes would print them.
2
Jeezzzz..........do ya suppose Mnuchin uses the same booking agent as Price used. There must be a freeloader link there somewhere.........I wonder if I could use that free-flight service??????
3
The reasons for these trips are usually nonsense. Needed to see the gold at Fort Knox. Needed to attend dinner for new hockey team. Needed to fly up to trump tower to meet with trump about something. Couldn't call him! Couldn't wait til trump came back to D.C. next day! Needed 12000 military jet trip to get up there this afternoon!! What a joke. What a waste. What a pathetic excuse for a president and his administration. Nothing but lies and more damn lies out of this crowd.
52
Just another WELFARE QUEEN REPUB of Washington, using the public's money for themselves...
31
Stay on this, please.
33
After reading the justification for Secretary Mnuchin's use of military aircraft, the cost would be more accurately listed as a telephone or communication expense than travel.
4
The fact that this character and Zinke are still employed confirms the rumors about Trump: he's afraid of confrontation. He doesn't like firing people and has no idea how to manage his subordinates. He doesn't care how bad they make him look.
9
What really burns me about this, is how this man is supposed to be a prudent overseer of USA financials. But there he is, freely racking up tremendous costs that were completely uncalled for. $15,000 for a flight just because he "might need a private conversation with Rex Tillerson along the way." Well, change the time of the conversation, and save the taxpayers the outrageous cost!
These "officials" are fleecing our nations coffers like grabbing candy from an open dish. Tom Price racked up only half as much in travel expenses at $400,000 and resigned. He won't be paying any of that back, of course. So what about Moochin?
10
The Treasury Department's Inspector General should be embarrassed:
"The inquiry into Mr. Mnuchin’s air travel, prompted by an Instagram posting by his wife, found he broke no laws in his use of military aircraft but lamented the loose justification provided for such costly flights."
"Loose justification" sound like a cover up for "wanton abuse"!
27
What Trump supporters understand and the rest of America doesn't is that Trump and his cabin are our version royalty not subject to the rules that bind the rest of us and especially the previous Administration. After all, they are busy training the swamp.
2
Does it seem like grifters and chiselers have taken over our government?
Run for office- the 2018 elections are only 13 months away, and if Trump and Louie Gohmert can get elected what's to stop a qualified candidate?
Become a Precinct Committee Officer, sometimes it's a Ward officer. You'll meet with neighborhood Dems and get out the vote. Find good citizens willing to run for office.
Register people to vote. If you need to help people overcome the GOP-led Voter run-around help them do that.
Run for School Board. Make sure Civics is being properly taught. Think a majority of America knows how government works? Just 26% of eligible voters in America voted for Trump and half of eligible voters stayed home last November. Today's 12-year olds will be voting for President in 8 years.
Run for Mayor, City Council, County Commissioner, Borough Assembly.
Get appointed to your Planning Commission. Know everything going on in your community.
Run for State Legislature or Congress. The next census is in 2020, then we'll redraw Congressional Districts. Get rid of GERRYMANDERING! Safe GOP seats gave us such intellectual giants as Louie Gohmert and Steve King. In most cases it's the state Legislature that draws Congressional boundaries. Make it FAIR, OPEN and HONEST!
Overturn Citizens United. Money is NOT speech and Corporations are NOT people- at least not until Texas executes one.
Overturn any voter ID laws the are clearly an attempt to disenfranchise.
10
Make him pay us back before he is forced to resign.
18
$15,000 for D.C. to New York. Aw!!! How adorable!
10
Transparency and accountability are to be expected from any government official, whether they are elected or appointed. Steve Mnuchin and other wealthy members of this administration are the real "welfare queens."
75
Where is the accountability to the American People? A commercial flight cost $688 but he opted for a $43,725 private flight on a military plane. Knowing that treasury secretaries generally fly commercial is just another example of the "Trump team" using taxpayer dollars for their personal benefit.
9
It may not be against the law, but obviously working around the law for personal gain provides an example that if those in power can do it, why shouldn't the rest of the public do it. In addition, if you have been on a commercial flight where you have to arrive hours before your flight, have to walk through a cattle line, and been subject to delayed flights, the elitism of this administration, often with no conscience, at our expense rankles. Couldn't Mr. Munchin's private conversations occur before and after some of these short flights?
3
When I am in San Francisco, I take the bus. In Columbus, I walk or combine trips to get the most bang for my buck with my $2.30 gallon of gas. Surely there is middle ground that doesn't demand Mnuchin hitch a ride on the Megabus. Just because I can spend doesn't mean that I don't do it wisely. Appearances matter and so does my tax dollar.
7
Seriously? He can't schedule a phone call at any other time and save $26,000? A nice quiet commercial flight, especially if he splurged for first class, would give him time for reflection and thought about the work he's trying to do. It might help all those officials to have phone-call free commuting time to think through their decisions before they mess more things up and waste more resources. Read some longer memos! Consider a new research paper! Write in a journal!
8
Maybe start by READING in a journal. These guys aren't exactly contributing to the furtherance of human knowledge. It couldn't hurt if they put in a bit of study.
Or did you mean, like writing in a diary?
2
Funny,I thought Trump was going to drain the swamp.Seems that this like all of his other promises during the campaign was nothing more that rhetoric.
He has increased the breadth and depth of the swamp as no one could
have envisioned.Thank god we have a free press that can at least attempt to keep this boy king in check.
12
Mnuchin is an ideal cabinet member in this administration...obsequious when asked to pledge loyalty in front of reporters, an ardent defender of Trump's avaricious fiscal policies, and completely indifferent to quaint notions like thrift and frugality.
Perhaps when he took the position, he mistakenly thought he was charged with emptying the country's coffers rather than safeguarding them. Oops.
5
So we have the most wasteful cabinet secretary running treasury. Figgers.
47
Mike--No, be fair. Price ran up a bill of $1 million. But, I'll bet this bill gets bigger and bigger. He's a sleaze, who got rich cheating old ladies out of their homes, and life savings.
8
Is there a taxpayer organization out there that can file a lawsuit for reimbursement of these flights?
61
You mean with the GOP SCOTUS? Nope.
2
The ballot box is supposed to be the solution - vote them out.
4
The SWAMP is overflowing in the Comrade Trump administration......they need a bigger SWAMP to hold them all!!!
34
The swamp has a runway?
32
Wow, if you can't drain the swamp, at least you can fly over it in style.
52
Mnuchin is the consummate swamp creature, or is he Munition as the spell checker insists?
Not to mention he is so corrupt he has no problem granting himself millions in tax relief, denying citizens healthcare, and basically using the planet for a billionaire's theme park.
This is one disgusting human being, Trump and his cabinet are a horror story.
91
Shameful. As if his former-Goldman Sachs backside is too special to be put into a commercial plane seat. And the Kentucky "eclipse day luxury brands shopping trip" was as see-through as it gets.
75