The company that owns the private jet that secretly flew Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to Florida in March has blocked attempts to search its flight history.
Air Eagle, LLC, which is owned by three Detroit businessmen, flew Whitmer to the Sunshine State in March, which set off a month of questions and answers that lacked clarity and honesty.
Air Eagle, LLC’s plane — like all others — is tracked by a public website called FlightAware, which follows aircraft movements throughout the country. It was there Whitmer’s March 12 flight from Lansing to Palm Beach, Florida, and return on March 15, were confirmed. The website offers 30 days of history for free and additional data for a fee.
On Wednesday, the plane’s history was available for purchase. This morning, the purchase page read, “This aircraft (N62AE) is not available for public tracking per request from the owner/operator,” blocking the ability to view more of its history and potentially match its activity log with Whitmer’s travels. Now, no flight history is available.
Breitbart News asked Whitmer’s office if she has flown on the plane at any other time, or the private jet of any other owner potentially seeking to influence her and they did not respond.
Whitmer’s office also refused to explain how she traveled to President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January.
A former lobbyist speculated to Breitbart News that one of the families who own the plane — the Morouns, the Cottons, and the Nicholsons — may have agreed to let Whitmer use the plane in exchange for face time with the governor during the 2+ hour trip to Florida.
If, in fact, the plane’s owners allowed the governor to use their plane because this arrangement granted them hours of face time with her to lobby for their interests, we do not know what they might have requested of her and whether she granted it. It is also unknown who — if any — among the plane’s owners traveled with Whitmer to Florida or how many other times she might have used their plane in the past during her term in office.
Whitmer has been standoffish for weeks about the details surrounding the secret trip. Her office initially said it was a “personal” trip to check on her “ailing” father and that she traveled “at her own expense.”
The “personal” nature of the trip was called into question after it was revealed that a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization created to finance Whitmer’s 2019 transition, paid $27,521 for the flight, and Whitmer reimbursed the fund $855 for her seat. However, according to IRS rules, the 501(c)(4) can only fund activities related to the nonprofit’s purpose. And Whitmer has been emphatic that the trip was “personal” and family-related.
There has been further controversy over the fact that the governor’s spokesperson stated that the 501(c)(4) “chartered” the flight. The claim touched off questions that Air Eagle, LLC may have violated its agreement with the FAA because the company is not approved to act as a charter service.
It is also still not clear exactly what the nature of her father’s immediate medical emergency was which required the then-unvaccinated governor to travel to Florida at a time when coronavirus cases were mounting in her state and after she had warned Michiganders not to travel to Florida for spring break. Just weeks after her trip, Whitmer’s “ailing” father was seen shopping in Lansing and driving away alone in his Tesla vehicle, Great Lakes News reported.
The governor has bristled as questions fester.
“I’ve said everything I am going to say about my trip to go check on my father,” Whitmer told a 9&10 News journalist at an event about roads. “It was a quick trip. It was an important family reason for doing it. And I have nothing to add.”
“I showed up when I was needed. I did a lot of cooking, a lot of cleaning,” Whitmer said last week.
“When you’re the governor of Michigan, you’re always on the clock, but it does not mean that you’re not also a daughter who shows up when a family member needs her,” she said.
Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays — download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.
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