EXCLUSIVE — Scandal-ridden Pete Buttigieg skirted a meeting request from a top Republican while on paid paternity leave, even though the transportation secretary claimed he’d be on the clock “24/7” during this controversial period, emails show.
Buttigieg, who came under fire for taking paternity leave in August 2021 amid the supply chain crisis, reassured CNN‘s Jake Tapper in October 2021 he was “available 24/7” because of the “nature of my job.” However, the DOT rebuffed the idea of him meeting with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) roughly one month before that interview, claiming Buttigieg was unavailable due to his leave status, according to emails obtained by the watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust and shared with the Washington Examiner.
“Senator Grassley would like to speak to Secretary Buttigieg about the status of a Buy American Waiver Request for the I-74 bridge,” wrote Grassley’s scheduling director, Jennifer Heins, to the DOT on Sept. 20, 2021. “Can we set up a phone call please?”
The senator sought to discuss with Buttigieg an estimated $1.2 billion construction project in relation to a bridge that crosses the Mississippi River and connects Iowa to Illinois.
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“I’m so sorry for the delay in my reply,” wrote Mohsin Syed, DOT’s assistant secretary of government affairs, roughly 14 hours later. “Unfortunately the Secretary is currently on leave due to the birth of twins, and that may lead to a delay in possibly scheduling a meeting in the near future.”
Syed continued, “If it is possible to wait a bit longer, perhaps we can aim for a meeting when the Secretary returns from paternity leave? If the hope is for a meeting sooner, we can discuss the possibility of a meeting with Deputy Secretary Trottenberg or FHWA Administrator Stephanie Pollack.”
Heins responded on Sept. 23 and informed Syed that Grassley then sought to “speak with the deputy who has jurisdiction over this waiver,” referring to the bridge project. Syed forwarded the exchange to employees at the DOT.
A DOT spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that Buttigieg was “available” during his leave “to address emergencies and matters that urgently required his attention,” while “less urgent matters” were delegated to other employees. The department ended up offering Grassley a call with another official and staff “worked with the senator’s office to answer his question,” according to the spokesperson.
“Senator Grassley’s office indicated to DOT that they were satisfied with the response,” said the spokesperson, who did not clarify what constituted “less urgent matters.”
Protect the Public’s Trust Director Mike Chamberlain told the Washington Examiner that Buttigieg should be available on a 24/7 basis, as he claimed, in his high-ranking Biden administration role.
“It appears as though, during his paternity leave, he was not always available when called upon and did not have some necessary contingencies in place to ensure the continuity of operations at DOT,” said the watchdog head.
The new emails provide a window into Buttigieg’s paternity leave, which sparked outcry among Republicans. The DOT did not announce that Buttigieg would be taking leave when the process reportedly began in mid-August.
In the October 2021 CNN interview, Buttigieg told Tapper, “Now, look, even though I have been on maternity leave, and I’m proud of it, obviously, given the nature of my job, when you take a job like mine, you understand and accept that you’re going to have to be available 24/7 depending on what’s going on, and you’re going to have to engage.”
“And I did, even if that meant taking a phone call or making a decision from a hospital room,” he continued. “But I am so thankful for the phenomenal work that my colleagues at the Department of Transportation have done and are doing.”
Other emails reviewed by the Washington Examiner lend credence to the idea that the DOT was uncertain on who to delegate authorities to amid Buttigieg’s absence. In one August 2021 instance, shortly after the secretary’s leave began, attorneys were forced to engage in back-and-forth emails on a Friday night, until the weekend, to determine who should handle an issue related to a loan program.
Similarly, heavily redacted August 2021 emails show DOT attorneys had to figure out who in the agency was authorized to make legally mandated reports to Congress.
“Perhaps it is not a coincidence that so many crises involving the department, from the supply chain breakdown to the FAA system outage that grounded flights all over the country, have occurred on his watch,” said Chamberlain.
Buttigieg has continued to make headlines over his frequent use of private jets on the dime of taxpayers. He, for instance, flew to Europe in April 2022 with his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, to attend the Invictus Games, a Dutch sports event, Fox News reported.
The secretary has used taxpayer-funded jets on at least 18 different occasions, the outlet reported in December 2022.
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The latest scandal involving Buttigieg has pertained to the Federal Aviation Administration, which had an outage on Wednesday that resulted in planes being grounded across the United States for 90 minutes. The FAA is under the DOT and is “responsible for regulating all aspects of civilian aviation in the nation.”
Thousands of flights have now been delayed or canceled because of the outage, according to data compiled by FlightAware. The complications come on the heels of Southwest Airlines canceling and delaying flights around Christmas due to logistical failures, resulting in customers allegedly filing thousands of complaints to the DOT, the agency said on Tuesday.
Grassley’s office did not reply to a request for comment.
