SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Vice President Mike Pence, who attended Sunday's Indianapolis Colts game, left the game early after several players staged an anthem protest. (Photo: AP)
Pence and Trump Blasted for NFL Publicity Stunt That Cost Taxpayers $242,500
Ethics watchdog says administration should not be spending that kind of money just to make hollow political point
Oct 09, 2017
The Trump administration is under fire from ethics watchdogs after spending massive amounts of public dollars to send Vice President Mike Pence to a professional football game on Sunday just so that he could walk out.
As Common Dreams reported Sunday, the entire episode was slammed as a "PR stunt" after a tweet from President Trump offered clear evidence that Pence's walk-out was planned in advance. And with many pointing to the taxpayer money it took to fly Pence to Indianapolis from Las Vegas, an analysis by CNN calculated the total cost of the spectacle at about $242,500.
On Monday morning, in response to a tweet by Trump acknowledging Pence's trip was "long planned," Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), slammed the decision:
\u201cAmerican taxpayers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for this background photo. Couldn't he have just used a stock image? https://t.co/rI2GoPuVsv\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507550930
\u201c$240k+ for a rhetorical point & a twitter pic. That's just the flight, not counting other costs. What was the point?\nhttps://t.co/EiSGtsKv6L\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507553843
\u201cIs he saying the stunt was long planned? As in, "planned to waste hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on flights before the Price scandal"? https://t.co/6O00Rw7sBM\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507548304
\u201cBut who's counting? https://t.co/82iehRaFw2\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507557580
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The Trump administration is under fire from ethics watchdogs after spending massive amounts of public dollars to send Vice President Mike Pence to a professional football game on Sunday just so that he could walk out.
As Common Dreams reported Sunday, the entire episode was slammed as a "PR stunt" after a tweet from President Trump offered clear evidence that Pence's walk-out was planned in advance. And with many pointing to the taxpayer money it took to fly Pence to Indianapolis from Las Vegas, an analysis by CNN calculated the total cost of the spectacle at about $242,500.
On Monday morning, in response to a tweet by Trump acknowledging Pence's trip was "long planned," Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), slammed the decision:
\u201cAmerican taxpayers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for this background photo. Couldn't he have just used a stock image? https://t.co/rI2GoPuVsv\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507550930
\u201c$240k+ for a rhetorical point & a twitter pic. That's just the flight, not counting other costs. What was the point?\nhttps://t.co/EiSGtsKv6L\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507553843
\u201cIs he saying the stunt was long planned? As in, "planned to waste hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on flights before the Price scandal"? https://t.co/6O00Rw7sBM\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507548304
\u201cBut who's counting? https://t.co/82iehRaFw2\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507557580
The Trump administration is under fire from ethics watchdogs after spending massive amounts of public dollars to send Vice President Mike Pence to a professional football game on Sunday just so that he could walk out.
As Common Dreams reported Sunday, the entire episode was slammed as a "PR stunt" after a tweet from President Trump offered clear evidence that Pence's walk-out was planned in advance. And with many pointing to the taxpayer money it took to fly Pence to Indianapolis from Las Vegas, an analysis by CNN calculated the total cost of the spectacle at about $242,500.
On Monday morning, in response to a tweet by Trump acknowledging Pence's trip was "long planned," Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), slammed the decision:
\u201cAmerican taxpayers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for this background photo. Couldn't he have just used a stock image? https://t.co/rI2GoPuVsv\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507550930
\u201c$240k+ for a rhetorical point & a twitter pic. That's just the flight, not counting other costs. What was the point?\nhttps://t.co/EiSGtsKv6L\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507553843
\u201cIs he saying the stunt was long planned? As in, "planned to waste hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on flights before the Price scandal"? https://t.co/6O00Rw7sBM\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507548304
\u201cBut who's counting? https://t.co/82iehRaFw2\u201d— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1507557580
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.