Not surprised, and at this point a good thing. Remember Price came to everyone’s attention for HHS because he was the man with a plan to repeal ObamaCare. Yeah, right. This seems to be part of the decision making by President Trump at the start when someone convinced him that bringing on certain people would help along his agenda. The opposite happened. I also don’t think this is just about the plane trips. It seems perhaps that was a last straw.
This is breaking news and will be updated when more information is available.
DEVELOPING …
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned on Friday over his private plane trips.
“Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price offered his resignation earlier today and the President accepted,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
ORIGINAL STORY …
President Trump is considering firing Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price over his private plane trips, saying a decision will be made by Friday night.
“He’s a very fine man, but we’re going to make a decision sometime tonight,” the president told reporters before boarding Marine One at the White House on Friday afternoon, when asked if he’s going to fire Price.
Last week, it was revealed that Price flew on charters to visit community health centers in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. One leg was from Dulles International Airport in the Washington suburbs to Philadelphia International Airport, a distance of 135 miles.
Politico reported that he also took a government-funded private jet in August to St. Simons Island, a Georgia resort where his family owns land, ahead of an address at a medical conference.
The outlet also reported this week that he took military aircraft for official trips to Africa, Europe and Asia, costing taxpayers more than $500,000.
Price said Thursday that he would reimburse the government for a portion of the costly charter flights he used to travel to various engagements at taxpayer expense.
Senior department sources told Fox News that the total amount of money Price will repay is $51,887.31.
Price was a Congressional Rep. for 12 years. His use of private aircraft seems similar to the clueless Republicans who wanted first action to vote for allowing pork projects back into the budget. And Trump had to say, Is this really the right time.