The Democratic National Committee said Monday it will cover some of the federal government’s costs for First Lady Jill Biden’s round-trip flights from Delaware to France, but taxpayers will foot the rest.
The Daily Mail reported Monday that the first lady’s multiple trips separately from the president last week, including to eldest son Hunter Biden’s gun trial in Wilmington, Delaware, a memorial for the Normandy landings in Normandy and a state dinner in Paris, cost taxpayers an estimated $345,400.
“Consistent with relevant regulations applied by successive administrations, the government will be reimbursed the equivalent of first-class fares for flights to Wilmington and Paris,” Jill Biden’s office said. He told the media.
A Democratic National Committee spokesman said Monday that the committee will pay for “the First Lady’s first-class travel expenses.” CBS News.
Jill Biden’s hectic travel week saw her spend an entire day on an airplane.
She first flew to Wilmington from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Tuesday night to attend court proceedings in Hunter’s criminal trial on Wednesday morning.
The first lady flew aboard a government jet to France that evening, where she and President Biden will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe at Normandy on Thursday.
While her husband remained in France, Jill Biden returned to Wilmington and spent Friday in court with Hunter, before returning to Paris that evening for a day of events on Saturday that culminated with a state dinner at the Elysee Palace.
She returned to the US on Sunday with the president aboard Air Force One.
According to the Daily Mail, the government watchdog group National Taxpayers United Foundation noted that the government plane Jill Biden appears to have used for her non-presidential travel was a Boeing C-32, with a reimbursable hourly rate of $13,816.
That works out to $110,528 per fight for her three bouts between France and Delaware.
Including the First Lady’s hour-long flight from Joint Base Andrews to Wilmington, the bill totaled $345,400 — far more than the combined cost of four round-trip first-class tickets to each destination.
Due to safety concerns, the First Lady does not have the option of flying commercially.
The DNC did not say specifically how much it plans to repay to the federal government and did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
