Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that he never used government resources for personal travel.
“At the time, my staff wanted to make sure that I constantly had access to secure communications and secure information,” Mr. Mnuchin said Thursday at a Politico event. “This was one of the things we explored. So they put in a request to consider the use of an aircraft.”
He said that his staff later decided it was unnecessary and found another means of providing him what he needed. His clarification comes after reports surfaced that he requested a government plane for his honeymoon to Europe.
The Treasury secretary also answered to the controversy surrounding his use of a government plane in Kentucky last month to watch the eclipse. His wife, actress Louise Linton, posted a photo of herself with the plane in the background on Instagram tagging her designer clothing items. She later apologized for the post.
Mr. Mnuchin said the trip to Kentucky was for government business.
“You know, people in Kentucky took this stuff very serious,” he said of the eclipse. “Being a New Yorker and [living for a time in] California, I was like, ’the eclipse? Really?’ I don’t have any interest in watching the eclipse.”
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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