Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg took his husband Chasten for a ride in a military plane when he attended the Invictus Games in Europe last yr, according to a report Wednesday.
Buttigieg traveled from Joint Base Andrews outside DC to Rotterdam, Netherlands on “MilAir flight” on April 15, 2021, Fox News Digital reported, citing a calendar obtained by the Americans for the Public Trust. He returned two days later.
announced President Biden On April 13, Buttigieg will lead the American delegation to the Invictus Games, which were founded in 2014 by Prince Harry and are for wounded, injured and sick service members.
The official delegation also included Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ailing.), Assistant Secretary for Veterans Affairs Donald Remy and Undersecretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones – but not Chasten Buttigieg.
![Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten at the Invictus Games in The Hague on April 15, 2022.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/pete-buttigieg-invictus-games-husband-military-aircraft-08.jpg?w=682)
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, also attended the Games in The Hague.
Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan, and his husband were photographed at the event – the couple even sat with the Sussexes and the remainder of the US delegation for an official photo, regardless that Chasten was not a formal attendee.
“Secretary Buttigieg’s travel woes are piling up with the latest revelation that he and his husband took a private jet to Europe,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for the Public Trust, told Fox News Digital. “Taxpayers whose vacation plans have been completely turned the wrong way up due to Buttigieg’s mismanagement of travel ought to be furious.”
![Members of the US delegation to the Invictus Games in April 2022 with representatives of the Invictus Games Foundation, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/pete-buttigieg-invictus-games-husband-military-aircraft-feat-image.jpg?w=1024)
“Buttigie manages to avoid all the problems he has created by flying private military jets around the world for non-military purposes, while odd Americans bear the brunt of his distraction from the reality of travel,” she continued.
“It’s standard practice to provide military aircraft for organized White House presidential delegations at the cabinet level,” a spokesman for the White House National Security Council told Fox News Digital.
A Department for Transport spokesman highlighted the importance of the Invictus Games but didn’t answer questions on whether Buttigieg would reimburse the government for Chasten’s travel expenses.
![Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/pete-buttigieg-invictus-games-husband-military-aircraft-02.jpg?w=1024)
“The secretary was proud to be asked to join the presidential delegation that the State Department organized for the Invictus Games – a global event in support of wounded, injured and sick servicemen and ladies, each serving and veterans,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. . “As a part of the visit, the delegation met with an American team of wounded veterans and members of energetic duty.”
Former President Donald Trump accepted the resignation of then-Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price in September 2017 after it was revealed that Price had spent over $1 million in taxpayer money on government and chartered private jets.
![Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten at the Invictus Games in The Hague.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/pete-buttigieg-invictus-games-husband-military-aircraft-05.jpg?w=1024)
Price reportedly reimbursed the government for the flights.
In August 2020 and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo he was moved when his wife Susan accompanied him on an official trip to Europe.
At the time, the State Department said legal and ethical advisors had allowed Pompeo’s wife to join her husband, saying “the trip would advance our country’s foreign policy goals.”
Since taking office, Buttigieg has flown 18 times on taxpayer-funded private jets, Fox News Digital reported last month.