The Transportation Department’s internal watchdog discovered evidence of potential ethical violations by former agency Secretary Elaine Chao, leading to a Justice Department referral for a December prosecution, according to documents released Wednesday.
Pursuit of the case was declined by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, the Transportation Department’s Office of the Inspector General reported, according to a readout.
There were a number of “potential ethics concerns arising from the actions of the Secretary and Office of the Secretary (OST) staff under her direction,” investigators wrote.
Chao prepared to include family members in stops she planned to make on a trip to China in 2017, including visits to Shanghai Maritime University and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, both of which received funding from her family’s charitable foundation, the documents showed. However, the trips never happened and were canceled.
ELAINE CHAO TO JOIN CONSERVATIVE DC THINK TANK
Chao used on-duty department employees “for tasks for the Secretary that appear to be personal in nature,” investigators reported.
A description of the personal tasks noted Chao emailed a staffer in her office with the subject line: “Xmas ornaments.” The email instructed the staff member to “sort out and fedex on Monday to Dr. Chao, and my sisters. Please draft a cover note –let me see it-telling them what we are sending.”
Chao, 67, began her career in Washington in 1988, serving as commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission under the Reagan administration. Her most recent duty saw her appointment by former President Donald Trump as transportation secretary in 2017, before the job was granted to Pete Buttigieg under the Biden presidency.
She is married to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
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One of the claims in the watchdog report led investigators to look into allegations the Transportation Department was steering “grant funds to the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” though the review found there was insufficient evidence to open an investigation.
