Three months after it was unveiled with fanfare in the Oval Office, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s reality TV road trip series still hasn’t released a single episode despite millions in donations from the very industries he regulates.
Duffy, his wife Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, and their nine kids allegedly filmed “The Great American Road Trip” over seven months, crisscrossing the country in a project pitched as celebrating America’s 250th birthday and offering families a wholesome alternative to modern life, The Bulwark’s Will Sommer noted on Monday evening.
“To love America is to see America,” Duffy said, describing the show’s motto during a promotional appearance alongside President Trump.
The five-part series was originally slated to premiere on YouTube in June, timed to Fourth of July festivities and Trump’s separate Freedom250 celebration. Instead, summer is more than half over with nothing released, and the nonprofit behind the project, run by former travel-industry lobbyist Tori Barnes, has repeatedly declined to explain the delay, only promising the show is coming “in the coming weeks.”
The financing has drawn its own scrutiny. Boeing and Toyota each donated $1 million to sponsor the series, according to the Wall Street Journal, joined by Shell, Royal Caribbean, United Airlines and Comcast — all companies with business before Duffy’s department. One travel company reportedly refused to buy in based on the ethics concerns.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) formally asked DOT’s inspector general to investigate, while the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed its own complaint alleging Duffy accepted improper travel benefits from sponsors his agency oversees.
The Transportation Department maintains no taxpayer money funded the Duffy family’s involvement, describing the trip as part of Duffy’s official duties.
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