After President Donald Trump said he was “not happy” about Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s use of private planes, the Cabinet official told reporters on Thursday that he believes he still has the President’s confidence.
“I think we’ve still got the confidence of the President,” Price told reporters after an event in Washington, D.C. promoting flu vaccines, as quoted by Politico.
The secretary would not answer reporters’ questions about whether he regrets using private jets or whether he plans to reimburse taxpayers for the cost of the trips, according to Politico.
Price spent more than $300,000 of taxpayer money on private charter plane flights up and down the East Coast to attend events in his official capacity as Health and Human Services secretary. His extensive use of private planes has prompted the House Oversight Committee to open an investigation into Trump administration officials’ use of non-commercial planes.
Trump signaled Wednesday that he’s not pleased with Price’s penchant for taking charter planes.
“I will tell you personally, I’m not happy about it,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “I’m going to look at it. I am not happy about it, and I let him know it.”
Asked if he would fire Price, Trump replied, “We’ll see.”
It’s never a good place to be when you must say the boss still has confidence in you, because the boss has refused to say exactly that.
My guess is that Mr. Price will soon have decided that after a very successful run, he’s decided to spend more time with his family.
“Has Donnie’s confidence”???
Uh-oh. Start the countdown.
“I gave him a reach-around after breakfast, so we’re cool again.”
So he hasn’t gotten the repeal and replace done and is taking attention away from drump with all his expensive flights… not looking good for Price.
Indeed. After Price’s success with getting the ACA repealed, I’m sure he’s got Tramp’s full confidence.
Helpful hint, Mr. Price - keep the personal items on your desk scaled down to an amount that can fit into a single cardboard box. And you may want to arrange for private travel when you leave - it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be taking a taxpayer-funded private jet home.
But hey - there’s still plenty of time for you to file your paperwork to try to get your house seat back.