Judicial Watch: Taxpayers On The Hook For $17k To Fly Biden To Campaign For Dems

AP Photo/Cliff Owen
AP Photo/Cliff Owen

American taxpayers spent $17,025 to transport Vice President Joe Biden to campaign for Democrats and celebrate shipyard builders in New Hampshire last September, according to documents obtained by a conservative watchdog group.

Judicial Watch announced Wednesday that records it received from the Air Force, via a Freedom Of Information Act request, reveal that Biden’s three-hour round trip flight to the Portsmouth, NH, Naval Shipyard on September 3, 2014 cost the American people $5,675 an hour.

That amount, according to Judicial Watch, did not include Secret Service costs, or the expenses of local law enforcement in New Hampshire.

The trip was officially called a visit to celebrate shipyard builders, but according to reports from New Hampshire Public Radio, “it was clear he was also there to boost Democrats heading into election season.”

In attendance at the event, according to the Daily Mail, were Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), former-Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) all of whom were up for re-election. Former-Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME) was also there, at the time, running for governor of Maine.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton slammed Biden for the expense.

“Joe Biden, like the Obamas, mistakes the Air Force for Uber,” Fitton said in a statement. “The scam of presidents and vice presidents using tax dollars to subsidize candidates running for office must end.”

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