Nancy Pelosi, it seems, needs to travel in style. Not only won’t she demean herself by flying commercial, she won’t even demean herself by flying in just any military aircraft, she insists on the Gulfstream G5. Also, she’s made efforts to keep one on-call for herself every weekend, just in case, at considerable taxpayer expense. This is according to emails obtained by Judicial Watch under a Freedom of Information Act request:
- In response to a series of requests for military aircraft, one Defense Department official wrote, “Any chance of politely querying [Pelosi’s team] if they really intend to do all of these or are they just picking every weekend?…[T]here’s no need to block every weekend ‘just in case’…” The email also notes that Pelosi’s office had, “a history of canceling many of their past requests.”
- One DOD official complained about the “hidden costs” associated with the speaker’s last minute changes and cancellations. “We have…folks prepping the jets and crews driving in (not a short drive for some), cooking meals and preflighting the jets etc.”
- The documents also detail correspondence from intermediaries for Speaker Pelosi issuing demands for certain aircraft and expressing outrage when requested military planes were not available. “It is my understanding there are no G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable…The speaker will want to know where the planes are…” wrote Kay King, Director of the House Office of Interparliamentary Affairs.
- In a separate email, when told a certain type of aircraft would not be available, King writes, “This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset [s]peaker.”
The NY Post reports the story here.
(Via Hot Air and Instapundit.)
I expect there will be a gold toilet in the Speaker’s office before long.
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