Tom Williams/ZUMA
Despite the launch of a ball-gown-clad redemption tour, it looks as though the controversy over Louise Linton’s Instagram meltdown is far from over.
The government ethics watchdog group CREW announced on Monday it is suing the Treasury Department for records related to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife’s trip to Fort Knox, after the couple used a government plane to travel to Kentucky during last month’s solar eclipse. The one-day trip gained national notoriety after Linton posted a photo of the couple disembarking an official Air Force jet, in which she included a slew of hashtags bragging about the expensive designer labels she was wearing at the time.
After a woman accused her of using taxpayer money for the trip, Linton proceeded to mock her newfound critic for having less money than the Mnuchin-Linton household.
Did Steven Mnuchin & Louise Linton use a gov't plane to get a better view of the eclipse? We FOIA'd to find out. https://t.co/uvzWjq1RV7 pic.twitter.com/wFJCYlwcLZ
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) August 23, 2017
“At a time of expected deep cuts to the federal budget, the taxpayers have a significant interest in learning the extent to which Secretary Mnuchin has used government planes for travel in lieu of commercial planes, and the justification for that use,” CREW’s executive director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement Monday.
In the wake of the controversy, a Treasury spokesperson said Mnuchin reimbursed the government for Linton’s travel.
