While First Lady Melania Trump still lived in New York for her travel to Washington using Air Force jets cost more than $675,000.
The first lady reportedly used Air Force jets to take 21 flights in the period of three months while she was living in New York, so her son Barron can finish the school year.
According to the West Street Journal, the flights were taken between New York City, Florida and Washington. Military records reviewed showed information from the time of President Donald Trump’s inauguration through April 2017.
The spokeswoman for the first lady Stephanie Grisham said that it is “no secret” that Trump lived in New York City during the first few months of her husband’s time in office so her son could finish the school year.
“The trips mentioned in this story are examples of Mrs. Trump juggling dual roles—putting her son first while also fulfilling some of her duties as First Lady,” she said.
The Former chief of staff for First Lady Laura Bush, Anita McBride, stated that travel for a first lady is “certainly not as expensive as moving the president anywhere.”
“It’s usually done with a very small footprint,” she said to the Journal reporters.
The Hill reports that the price of some of Trump’s trips were more expensive, because she flew on jets based at Joint Base Andrews, meaning they sometimes would need to fly without passengers to pick up the first lady. There were total of 27 flights made without passengers.
Erika A. Yepsen, an Air Force spokeswoman, stated that the Air Force works “diligently to ensure it acts as a good steward of taxpayers’ money while meeting the requirements of every mission it’s assigned regardless of where the mission occurs, what the mission is or who the mission supports.”
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