Holder, FBI chief spend $11 million flying in luxury jets

Holder, Mueller, Mukasey used FBI's Gulfstream jets for business, personal travel even though Congress approved them for counterterrorism

Two corporate-style jets that the FBI persuaded Congress to lease for fighting global terrorism have instead been used the majority of the time to ferry Attorney General Eric Holder, his predecessor in the Bush administration and FBI Director Robert Mueller on business and personal trips at an expense of millions of dollars to taxpayers, an investigation has found.

The bureau's state-the-art, sleek Gulfstream V jets logged 60 percent of their hours between 2007 and 2011 on "non-mission flights" that cost taxpayers $11.4 million, according to an investigation by the Government Accountability Office obtained by theWashington Guardian.

The travel included 88 personal trips for Holder and former Republican Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who stepped down in 2009, and 10 for Mueller, the review found. Taxpayers were reimbursed only pennies on the dollar for those personal trips under the current rules, the audit found. 

On at least one occasion a trip by Holder in 2011 left the FBI without access to a Gulfstream during a counterterrorism operation, forcing agents to scramble to charter a private plane, according to documents reviewed by the Washington Guardian.

For many years, the White House has required attorney generals to use government aircraft for all business and personal travel for security reasons. And in 2011, Mueller was added to the list of officials who was required to fly on government planes fulltime.

http://www.washingtonguardian.com/taken-ride-0