Whitmer Transition Fund Paid For Private Jet To Biden Inauguration

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's transition fund paid for a private jet she took to attend President Biden's inauguration in January, according to Fox News.

Whitmer is already facing scrutiny for using funds from an inauguration-related nonprofit to pay for a $27,521 trip to Florida to visit her ailing father in March.

The Michigan Transition 2019 fund also used nearly $21,000 – labeled as a "gift" by the fund – to charter a plane for the governor to attend Biden’s inauguration with her family in Washington, DC, Michigan journalist Charlie LeDuff reported during the Friday episode of his radio show, No BS Newshour.

LeDuff said the Michigan Transition 2019 filings page was "dark for years" until the reports of Whitmer’s trip to the Sunshine State against her own travel advisories, per Fox News.

Whitmer's office did not immediately return Fox News’ request for comment on LeDuff’s report.

Michigan Republican Party communications director Ted Goodman told Fox News that Whitmer's actions are showing Michiganders her true colors.

"Governor Whitmer, through her actions, is sending a message to Michiganders that she gets to play by a different set of rules," Goodman said in a Friday statement.

Goodman previously said the issue is not that Whitmer wanted to visit her ill father, but rather that other citizens of the state were denied the same opportunity by Whitmer's lockdown orders that kept people out of nursing homes and hospitals.

"Whitmer is hiding from this growing plane scandal story because she knows what she did was wrong, hypocritical and insulting to Michiganders who stayed home during the pandemic while she is jet-setting to Florida and elsewhere," he said.

Whitmer had an Internal Revenue Service complaint filed against her by advocacy group Michigan Rising Action for the private jet she used to get to Florida, and an ethics complaint filed by advocacy group Americans for Public Trust to the Michigan State Board of Ethics regarding the ethical ramifications of the governor’s trip, Fox News reports.