Scandal weakens cabinet
WASHINGTON United States President Donald Trump’s health secretary resigned yesterday, after his costly travel triggered investigations that overshadowed the administration’s agenda and angered his boss.
Tom Price’s regrets and partial repayment of the money couldn’t save his job.
The health and human services secretary became the first member of the president’s cabinet to be pushed out in a turbulent young administration that has seen several highranking White House aides ousted. A former Republican congressman from the Atlanta suburbs, Price served less than eight months.
Publicly, Trump had said he was ‘‘not happy’’ with Price for repeatedly using private charter aircraft for official trips on the taxpayer’s dime, when cheaper commercial flights would have sufficed in many cases.
Privately, Trump had told associates in recent days that Price was overshadowing his tax overhaul agenda and undermining his campaign promise to ‘‘drain the swamp’’ of corruption, according to three people familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The flap has prompted scrutiny of other cabinet members’ travel, with the House Oversight and Government Reform committee launching a government-wide investigation of top political appointees. Other department heads have been scrambling to explain their own travel. AP