Karoline Leavitt has come under fire after she slipped back into her role as White House spin doctor to downplay revelations about Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s taxpayer-funded personal travel.
Rubio’s use of taxpayer dollars came under scrutiny on Wednesday after The Washington Post reported that his personal travel appears to far outpace that of his predecessors.
The 55-year-old secretary of state traveled to Gainesville, Florida, aboard government aircraft at least 23 times in the 21 months since taking office last year.
Marco Rubio next to his wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio. Leavitt’s defense of the secretary of state’s personal travel prompted critics to point out that many Americans who are footing the bill for Rubio to see his son can’t afford to visit their own children in college.
His son Anthony plays at the University of Florida as a walk-on running back for the Gators. Rubio has flown to at least 10 Gators football games since taking office, including all five home games this fall.
The department classified 15 of Rubio’s trips as “solely personal,” costing taxpayers roughly $770,600. Seven additional trips, which the State Department said combined personal and official travel, cost another $443,900. That brought the total to $1.2 million, excluding Rubio’s most recent trip on Saturday.
Leavitt, however, attempted to make light of the staggering taxpayer bill for Rubio’s personal travel with a smug one-liner.
“Karoline Leavitt confirms she’s all in for wasting taxpayer money,” one person commented under the former press secretary’s post.
“Washington Post confirms Secretary Rubio is a great dad,” the 29-year-old, who quit as White House press secretary in August, wrote on X.
Her quip was immediately torn to shreds, with many pointing out that many Americans who are footing the bill for Rubio to see his son cannot afford to visit their own children in college.
“His child is an adult. Most parents with a college athlete can’t afford to go to every game. But when @SecRubio does it on the tax payer dime, we’re supposed to applaud?” one X user wrote. “I couldn’t afford to go to all my daughters competitions… so out of touch.”
Another person quipped, “Karoline Leavitt confirms she’s all in for wasting taxpayer money.”
As secretary of state, Rubio is prohibited from flying commercially for security reasons. When traveling for personal reasons on government aircraft, he must reimburse the government for the equivalent cost of an economy-class ticket.
But the reimbursements cover just a fraction of the true cost to taxpayers and are not disclosed.
Rubio, himself a University of Florida alum, has primarily traveled aboard Gulfstream C-37A and C-37B jets, which the Defense Department billed other federal agencies about $9,100 an hour to use. On three trips, he took a larger Boeing C-32A, costing about $18,600 an hour.
Rubio and the State Department refused to say how much he has reimbursed the government for his personal travel.
“I have and will continue to try and make it to as many events that are important to me personally and to my family as possible,” the secretary of state said in a defiant statement to the Post.
Rubio was far less forgiving when it came to other officials’ use of government planes. During the Biden administration, he demanded an investigation into then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s use of government aircraft. Transportation secretaries are not required to fly government aircraft, unlike secretaries of state.
“American taxpayers deserve assurances that their tax dollars are not wasted by the government’s highest officials,” Rubio wrote in 2023.
The Transportation Department inspector general ultimately found that Buttigieg complied with federal rules. His government aircraft travel totaled $59,000.
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