TRUMP’S HEALTH SECRETARY TOM PRICE RESIGNS OVER PLANE SCANDAL

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST Price resigns after severely criticised for using chartered flights for official travel and racking up a bill of $400,000

WASHINGTON: Tom Price, the US secretary of health and human services, has become the latest senior official to leave the Trump administration. He resigned on Friday after coming under unrelenting fire for using chartered flights for official travel.

Price had worked up a bill of $400,000 and had sought to offset it with an offer of $52,000, a payment for his own seat on those flights. But that was clearly not enough to mollify President Donald Trump, who had made no attempt to conceal his displeasure.

“I’ m not happy, okay ,” Trump said to reporters earlier, when asked about Price, “And, you know, this is an administration that saves hundreds of millions of dollars on renegotiating things, on new trade deals…”

Shortly afterwards, the White House announced that Price “offered his resignation earlier today and the President accepted”, and that Trump intended to designate Don J Wright as acting secretary, effective September 29.

And that was yet another ch urn of personnel in the Trump administration following the exits of a national security adviser, two communications directors, a chief of staff, a press secretary/spokesperson and a chief strategist. But Price was the first cabinet member to go.

The former Congressman from Georgia had built a reputation as a fiscal hawk and a committed opponent of Obamacare, but Trump had been frustrated about the failure to repeal and replace the law.

Already in trouble with Trump, Price was hit by asp ate of stories in Politico news website about his extravagant travels.

And he merrily mixed official with non-official. Politico reported a chartered flight Price took to Nashville where he “toured a medicine dispensary, spoke to a local health summit organised by a friend and had lunch with his son”.

Three others are also facing scrutiny for their travels. And there are still others who have earned Trump’ s ire for critic is ing him publicly, such as chief economic adviser Gary Cohn.

There is then the attorney general Jeff Sessions, who had been at the receiving end of a very long and very public rebuke from the president for recusing himself from the Russia probe.