Biden admin is withholding release of Pete Buttigieg's flight records after he was accused of abusing taxpayer dollars by flying private, lawsuit claims

A government watchdog organization filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration's Federal Aviation Administration, accusing the agency of withholding the release of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's flight records, Fox News Digital reported Thursday.

Buttigieg, a vocal advocate for reducing carbon emissions, came under fire last year when it was revealed that he used taxpayer dollars to travel in private jets managed by the FAA at least 18 times since becoming the Department of Transportation secretary.

Government watchdog group Americans for Public Trust filed a lawsuit against the FAA after it repeatedly failed to provide records detailing Buttigieg's travels.

According to the lawsuit, the FAA has improperly delayed the release of the flight records on three separate Freedom of Information Act requests.

In November, APT requested information detailing all flight logs and passenger manifests for the three jets managed by the FAA. The group filed a second FOIA request in January seeking records for every instance when a White House official, executive branch official, or member of Congress used the jets. APT issued a final request a couple of days later, extending the previous request to include any other jets managed by the FAA.

According to the lawsuit, the FAA replied to APT by setting multiple dates to turn over the records but failed to meet its own deadlines.

"The FAA has not communicated with APT concerning whether the FAA will fulfill its FOIA requests since missing two self-imposed extended deadlines of May 1 and May 18, 2023," the lawsuit stated. "Nor has the FAA provided any indication as to when APT can expect its requests to be processed."

"The only documents that the FAA has produced to APT were documents previously produced in response to a FOIA request from a different party, and the documents produced are not fully responsive to all three of APT's requests," the complaint continued. "APT accordingly brings this lawsuit to compel the FAA to immediately respond to APT's FOIA requests and promptly disclose all responsive, non-exempt records."

Federal agencies must hand over the requested documents within 20 to 30 working days. More than 100 days have passed since the FAA acknowledged receiving the FOIA requests, the group's lawsuit claimed.

APT's executive director, Caitlin Sutherland, told Fox News Digital, "Pete Buttigieg abused taxpayer dollars by using a private jet to fly domestically and internationally."

"It's been six months since we helped expose Secretary Buttigieg's trips, but his agency refuses to tell the American people how much they're on the hook for his extravagant travel arrangements," Sutherland continued. "Buttigieg's FAA has stonewalled and refused to adhere to the law for releasing public records, so we're filing suit on behalf of all Americans who deserve to know how their money is being spent by this administration."

The DOT's Office of Inspector General launched an investigation into Buttigieg's travel in late February.

"We welcome this independent audit moving forward in order to put some of the false, outlandish, and cynical claims about the Secretary's mode of travel to rest. The fact remains that he flies commercially the vast majority of the time," a department spokesperson stated at the time.

The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheBlaze.

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