First lady Michelle Obama’s family trip to Africa, Spain and Morocco to promote her “Let Girls Learn” initiative, and cut a CNN documentary on the effort, has already crossed the $1 million mark with many more expenses still to be tabulated.
According to the bills that have already come in, Obama, accompanied by an entourage that includes her mom and daughters, has spent about $1.06 million: $512,737 for hotels and $252,471 for limos and transportation. Airfare alone is expected to be about $302,500, according to the hourly flight rate recently provided to Judicial Watch.
The bills on USASPENDING.gov. are still coming in. Among those already there:
— $483,183 for hotels in Morocco, including $393,500 for the posh Sofitel, $60,073 for rooms in the Royal Mansour and $24,934 in the Pearl Hotel.
— $29,554 so far for hotels in Madrid. Other bills are expected.
— $129,139 for cars in Morocco.
The first lady and Spain’s Queen Letizia.
— $123,332 for cars in Madrid, including $8,743 for a van.
The group flew to Liberia Monday, to Morocco Monday night for two nights, and was in Madrid two nights before returning home on Friday.
Actress and advocate for girls education Meryl Streep participates in a conversation with teenage girls in Marrakech, Morocco, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama was visiting Morocco to promote for the Let Girls Learn in the North African kingdom, where only 36 percent of girls continue school beyond the primary level. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)
In a pre-trip briefing, Obama’s chief of staff Tina Tchen explained the project and reason for the trip:
In March of 2015, the president and the first lady together launched Let Girls Learn, which is a whole-of-U.S.-government effort to address the barriers that keep over 62 million girls around the world out of school, in particular adolescent girls. As the president and the first lady said when they launched the initiative, we know that adolescent girls face specific challenges when they’re trying to attend school, in particular the cultural beliefs about the proper role of women and girls in their societies. And when girls don’t attend school, that doesn’t just harm their own prospects, it harms their families, their communities, and, ultimately, their countries.
As part of that launch, the U.S. committed to expanding its work in diplomacy, development and outreach in support of adolescent girls’ education. And that’s what we’ll be doing on this trip.
The trip has been a success, with positive headlines in Liberia, Morocco and Spain.
In Marrakech, Obama was joined by actresses Meryl Streep, also an advocate for girls’ education, and Freida Pinto for a talk moderated by CNN’s Isha Sesay.
“Throughout the trip, CNN Films will be filming a documentary featuring the stories of girls in Liberia and Morocco who have overcome barriers to going to and staying in school,” said Tchen.
Officials said CNN was paying its share of the trip.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
