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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
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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
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