ETHICS/STEVE MNUCHIN: “A government ethics watchdog group is launching their own investigation into Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton’s travel to Kentucky after a photo posted by Linton, spotlighting her lavish designer clothing as she stepped off a government plane, went viral.
CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, has requested copies of ‘all records concerning authorization for and the costs of’ Mnuchin and Linton’s use of a government plane to travel to Lexington, Kentucky on August 21, as well as all records pertaining to Mnuchin’s use of a government plane for any purpose since his appointment to the Trump administration.
Mnuchin traveled to Lexington with his wife to deliver remarks alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and later traveled to Fort Knox to tour an Army post as well as view the total solar eclipse that happened to occur the very same day.
It was Linton’s sharing of pricey designer labels in an Instagram post and her subsequent rant against a commenter who criticized it that first raised eyebrows.
In the photo, Linton referred to the excursion as a ‘great #daytrip’ then proceeded to use hashtags to highlight her expensive outfit, including Roland Mouret pants, Tom Ford sunglasses, a Hermes scarf and Valentino heels. After commenters slammed Linton for seemingly bragging about using government travel as an ad for her designer wears, Linton fired back.”
-Emily Tillet, “Ethics watchdog asks for records of Mnuchin and wife’s travel to Kentucky,” CBS News, Aug. 25, 2017 09:40am