The Democratic National Committee indicated Monday that it will cover some of the costs incurred by the federal government for first lady Jill Biden’s recent back-and-forth flights from Delaware to France — but taxpayers will be on the hook for the rest.
The first lady juggled attending first son Hunter Biden’s Wilmington, Del., gun trial as well as D-Day remembrances in Normandy and a state dinner in Paris last week by traveling separately from the president, multiple times, at an estimated $345,400 cost to taxpayers, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.
“In accordance with relevant regulations utilized across administrations, the government is reimbursed the value of a first-class fare for these flights to Wilmington and back to Paris,” Jill Biden’s office told the outlet.
A DNC spokeswoman said Monday that the national Democratic Party intends to pay “for the first class travel of the first lady,” according to CBS News.
Jill Biden’s whirlwind travel week saw her log a full day’s worth of time in the air.
She first flew from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to Wilmington on Tuesday evening so she could attend courtroom proceedings Hunter’s criminal trial on Wednesday morning.
The first lady then boarded a government plane to France that evening and spent Thursday in Normandy with President Biden commemorating the 80th anniversary of the allied invasion of Nazi-occipied Europe.
While her husband remained in France, Jill Biden flew back to Wilmington to spend Friday in court with Hunter before flying back to Paris that evening for a full day of Saturday events culminating in a state dinner at the Élysée Palace.
She returned to the US on Sunday with the president, flying aboard Air Force One.
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation, a government watchdog group, noted that the government plane likely used by Jill Biden for her trips without the president was a Boeing C-32, which has a reimbursable rate of $13,816 per hour, according to the Daily Mail.
The math for each of her three fights between France and Delaware adds up to $110,528 per leg.
When the first lady’s one-hour flight from Joint Base Andrews to Wilmington is included, her total bill comes out to $345,400 – far more than the combined total of four first-class tickets to and from each destination.
Security concerns prevent first ladies from having the option to fly commercial.
The DNC did not say exactly how much it plans to reimburse the federal government and did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
