Treasury Secretary Asked for Air Force Jet for Honeymoon

Steven Mnuchin's request was turned down
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 14, 2017 4:07 AM CDT
Updated Sep 14, 2017 5:35 AM CDT
Treasury Secretary Wanted Air Force Plane for Honeymoon
In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, President Trump watches as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin walks to then-fianc?e Scottish actress Louise Linton after he was sworn-in by Vice President Mike Pence.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

As a wealthy former Goldman Sachs banker, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is used to traveling in style—but his request for a government plane to take him and new wife Louise Linton on their European honeymoon was rejected. Officials tell ABC News that Mnuchin's office made a formal—and unusual—request after his June wedding to the Scottish actress, but officials decided he did not need the US Air Force jet, which would have cost around $25,000 an hour to operate. A Treasury Department spokesman says Mnuchin, a member of the National Security Council, asked for the jet for the honeymoon to Scotland, France, and Italy because he wanted to maintain secure communication, Politico reports.

Travel on military aircraft, however, is usually reserved for Cabinet members who deal more directly with national security, the Guardian reports. "You don't need a giant rulebook of government requirements to just say yourself, 'This is common sense, it's wrong,'" Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, tells ABC. "That's just slap your forehead stuff." The Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General is looking into the honeymoon request as well as a trip Mnuchin and his wife made to Kentucky on a government aircraft last month. He says the trip was for meetings and not to see the eclipse, which he viewed from Fort Knox. (On that trip, Linton had a "Marie Antoinette moment.")

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X