Price resigns over private jet scandal
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY’S DEPARTURE LATEST FROM AN ADMINISTRATION BUFFETED BY TURBULENCE
Health secretary’s exit latest from an administration buffeted by turbulence |
Tom Price, the health and human services secretary, resigned under pressure on Friday after racking up at least $400,000 (Dh1.46 million) in travel bills for chartered flights and undermining President Donald Trump’s promise to drain the swamp of a corrupt and entitled capital.
Already in trouble with Trump for months of unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care programme, Price failed to defuse the president’s anger by offering regret and a partial reimbursement. His departure was the latest from an administration buffeted by turbulence at the top, and capped a week of setbacks for the president.
“I’m not happy, OK?” Trump told reporters who asked about Price as the president prepared to leave for his New Jersey golf club for the weekend, barely an hour before the resignation was announced. “I can tell you, I’m not happy.” He called Price “a very good man” but added that the secretary’s offer to pay back the government for just part of the cost of the private flights “would be unacceptable.”
Price ran afoul of one of the president’s most consequential campaign pledges. While some of Trump’s advisers privately make light of his vow to drain the swamp of Washington privilege, to many of his voters, it was a threshold promise. The firestorm over Price came as the president was already on the defensive with his base, as the incumbent mainstream Republican senator he backed in an Alabama primary race lost to an insurgent channelling Trump’s election movement.
“It’s hard to see how a Cabinet secretary can drain the swamp from 42,000 feet in the plush interior of a taxpayerfunded Gulfstream 4,” said Laura Ingraham, a conservative talk show host and Trump supporter who, like others, defied the president by backing Roy Moore, the insurgent Senate candidate who won in Alabama.
Trump berated Price in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon for about two hours before heading out to meet with reporters, according to people informed about the meeting. All Cabinet travel requests now must be cleared by the White House, they said.
The White House’s announcement of Price’s departure was sparse, with none of the customary thanks for his service; it said simply that he had “offered his resignation earlier today and the president accepted.”
In his resignation letter to Trump, Price said: “I have spent 40 years both as a doctor and public servant putting people first. I regret that the recent events have created a distraction from these important objectives. Success on these issues is more important than any one person. In order for you to move forward without further disruption, I am officially tendering my resignation.”
Trump tapped Don J. Wright, a deputy assistant secretary for health and the director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, to serve as acting secretary. Possible candidates for a successor include Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
Price’s job was on the line since the first of a string of reports by Politico, on September 19, about his extensive use of chartered aircraft. The president has fumed privately and publicly about Price’s actions. Hoping to assuage Trump, the secretary offered Thursday to reimburse the government $51,887 — which he said represented the cost of his seat on the trips — of the at least $400,000 spent. But it was not enough to save his job.