Some said this day would never come, but it appears as though the Democrats have found an expenditure of public funds that they don’t like. Unsurprisingly, that expenditure of funds has to do with President Trump and Vice President Pence.
Nearly two weeks ago, Vice President Pence walked out of an NFL game in protest, after 23 members of the San Francisco 49ers knelt during the national anthem. Now, a group of House Democrats have written a letter to the Vice President demanding that the Treasury be reimbursed to cover the travel and security costs associated with his protest.
Representatives Brendan Boyle, Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal, Ted Lieu, and Ruben Gallego, all signed the letter to VP Pence. Here are some relevant portions of the letter:
We are writing in response to your office’s use of taxpayer funding to orchestrate a costly publicity stunt at a National Football League (NFL) game on October 8th, an act which was then employed by the Trump-Pence reelection campaign for the purpose of soliciting donations. Given the inappropriate nature of this conduct, we strongly urge you to instruct your campaign to reimburse the Treasury for the full cost of your travel and expenses that day.
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Flying across the country and back at taxpayer expense simply to enter and then immediately depart a football stadium serves no discernible public interest.
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Again, given the appearance of serious impropriety in this matter, we request that you instruct the Trump-Pence campaign to immediately reimburse the Treasury for the full cost of your wasteful, unnecessary trip to Indianapolis.
CNN placed the estimate for the cost of Pence’s visit to the game at $242,500.