‘Resigned’? Nuh-uh – Trump just likely fired a clearly corrupt cabinet member!
We’re not shocked, although we don’t buy the headline. We bet he was fired.
President Donald Trump accepted the resignation of Tom Price, the embattled health and human services secretary, Friday in the midst of a scandal over his use of private planes.
Price had become a liability to Donald Trump, and not just because the “repeal and replace” of the Affordable Care Act was repeatedly botched in Celebrity Apprentice style (the entire West Wing made Meat Loaf and Gary Busey look hypercognizant and professional by comparison). Price had become a yuuuuge embodiment of the so-called “swamp” the former reality-show host had pledged – yet so far failed – to drain:
“I think the President’s mad as hell,” a Republican senator told CNN Thursday. “What the f*** was he thinking?”
“It’s just stupid,” the senator added. “I think Price can probably survive this. Don’t know.”
On Thursday, Price said he planned to “write a personal check to the US Treasury for the expenses of my travel on private charter planes” and that he “would no longer take private charter flights as the secretary of HHS no exceptions.”
Politico, who first reported about Price’s travel, has identified Price took $400,000 in chartered flights so far including one flight worth $25,000 between Washington and Philadelphia. In recent days, the President’s frustration has also been palpable. Asked Wednesday if he’d fire Price Wednesday, Trump responded “we’ll see.”
Price had pledged to repay the government – but only for a fraction of the cost of his deluxe flights:
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price will reimburse taxpayers just under $52,000 for the cost of his charter jet travels for official government business, which is estimated at more than $400,000.
Price is “taking the unprecedented step of reimbursing the government for his share of the travel,” a department spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Hill. “Secretary Price will write a personal check to the US Treasury for $51,887.31. The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for his seats on charter planes.”
Price got caught wasting your tax dollars. That’s corruption – not on the Russiagate scale, but corruption nonetheless. Good riddance to Price.
