Tom Price, HHS Secretary, Resigns Over Private Jet Scandal

WASHINGTON, DC — In yet another tumultuous shakeup of the Trump administration's first year, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned Friday as a growing scandal over his use of private jets subsumed his public image. Once considered to be a crusader against out-of-control government spending, he has now become one more executive branch casualty who stands accused of spending more than $1 million of government funds on private flights — a stark break with department practice.

Price "offered his resignation earlier today and the President accepted," the White House said in a statement.

Before leaving Washington, D.C. in Air Force One earlier Friday, President Trump had said he would make a decision on Price's fate that evening. Asked if he had received a resignation from Price, the president said no. The announcement that Price resigned was made before Air Force One landed in New Jersey. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Tom Price Resigns Amid Scrutiny Of Private Jet Use

"The President intends to designate Don J. Wright of Virginia to serve as Acting Secretary, effective at 11:59 p.m. on September 29, 2017," the White House said. Wright has been serving as deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the office of disease prevention and health promotion.

"I have spent forty years both as a doctor and public servant putting people first," Price said in his resignation letter to the president. "I regret that recent events have created a distraction to these important objectives."

He continued: "Success on these issues is more important than any one person. In order for you to move forward without further disruption, I am officially tendering my resignation as Secretary of Health and Human Services."

Price's departure is one of many in the Trump administration's short tenure. President Trump has already had to replace an FBI director, a press secretary, a chief of staff, two communication directors, a national security adviser and fill many other positions because of high-profile resignations and terminations.

Controversy over Price's travels have been fueled by reporting in Politico.

On Thursday Price said he thought he still had the president's confidence. As a partial apology for the overspending, Price said before resigning that he would write a personal check to the Treasury Department for more than $50,000 to cover his seats on the charter planes.

But the amount was far less than Politico's estimate of more $1 million spent on the flights. The figure includes $500,000 of spending on military flights for the secretary overseas, which Politico reported Thursday night.

In light of his resignation while under scrutiny for misusing public funds, many critics pointed out the irony that Price has long made eliminating "wasteful spending" one of his topic political priorities. Twitter users dredged up one of Price's tweets from 2010 in which he highlighted an honor he'd received for opposing excessive public spending:

An ally of House Speaker Paul Ryan, Price is a past chairman of the House Budget Committee, where he was known as a frequent critic of wasteful spending. As HHS secretary, he has questioned whether the Medicaid health insurance program for low-income people delivers results that are worth the billions of dollars taxpayers spend for the coverage.

The private jet scandal was not Price’s first brush with controversy or accusations of corruption.

When he was announced as Trump’s pick to head HHS, critics accused Price of trading in various health care-related stocks while being heavily involved in Congressional health policy. There are rules against using insider Congressional knowledge to profit personally, and some Democrats, including Sen. Chuck Schumer, believed Price may have violated these provisions. Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told CNN that Price may have benefited from purchasing stock in a medical device company before proposing a measure that would have helped it.

Mayor Rusty Paul of Sandy Springs, which Price represented as a Georgia congressman, issued a statement of solidarity with the resigning secretary.

"My heartfelt sympathies go out to Secretary Price and his family," he said. "What has occurred is a tragedy you never want to see happen to one of your friends, and Tom is a friend."

Earlier in the week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had distanced the president from the Price scandal.

"The White House does not have a role on the front end of approving private charter flights at agencies," she said, "and that's something that we're certainly looking into from this point forward and have asked a halt to be put, particularly at HHS, on any private charter flights moving forward until those reviews are completed."

Other members of the Cabinet contacted by The Associated Press last week said they personally foot the bill for chartered travel or reimburse taxpayers the difference between commercial and chartered travel. The exceptions are when they are traveling with the president or vice president, who fly aboard government planes.

But Price is not the only Cabinet member who has faced recent criticism for spending habits.

Steven Mnuchin, Trump's treasury secretary, faced criticism for using a government plane to fly from New York City to Washington following an August meeting with the president at Trump Tower. Mnuchin also asked for — and later withdrew — a government plane to fly to Europe for his honeymoon.

Interior Secretary Zinke and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt have also taken private jets at government expense, according to Politico. Democratic critics of the administration say the ubiquity of the practice suggests a pervasive permissive attitude toward wasteful spending.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images