Swansenreport

Gillibrand Claims She’s “Never Been on a Private Jet” — Receipts From 2014 Say Otherwise

Wisconsin’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy turned yesterday’s Senate budget hearing into must-see television when he flipped the script on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) — who had come to the hearing to grill Duffy about his corporate-sponsored road trip and walked out facing questions about her own history of private air travel.

The confrontation began when Gillibrand pressed Duffy about his seven-month “Great American Road Trip,” funded by a roster of companies his agency regulates — including Boeing, Toyota, United Airlines, Enterprise, Shell, and Royal Caribbean. “Your vacation was paid for by Boeing, Toyota, United Airlines, Enterprise, Shell, Royal Caribbean Group — all organizations and companies that you oversee,” Gillibrand said. Just The News

Duffy fired back, citing what he said were $7 million in campaign contributions Gillibrand received from the trial bar in New York — including, he alleged, $500,000 spent to fly her on a private jet. Gillibrand flatly denied it: “I’ve never been on a private jet. I’ve never been on a private jet. No. We don’t — members of Congress aren’t allowed.” The Daily Beast

The denial landed with a thud on social media — because a 2014 report by WGRZ, the NBC affiliate in Buffalo, documented exactly the opposite. According to a USA Today analysis of Senate spending records compiled by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, Gillibrand ranked as the second-highest spender among all U.S. senators on charter plane flights in 2013. The report noted that Gillibrand regularly used air charter company Zen Air, typically flying out of Reagan National Airport on a small charter jet to visit all 62 New York counties.

Gillibrand attempted to redirect: “You are political, and you are using your position in political ways.” Duffy didn’t let up, repeating the private jet allegation as Gillibrand talked over him. The exchange ended without resolution — both talking past each other, neither conceding an inch. Wisconsin Examiner

For his part, Duffy had his own defense ready on the road trip. He argued the project was officially part of America 250 — the federally sanctioned program commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary — and that Congress had specifically directed DOT to promote tourism and travel. “This body told me that I’m supposed to promote tourism and travel, and that’s what it does as well,” he said. Just The News

The one-upsmanship is a good window into how Washington works in 2026: the senator comes to hold the cabinet secretary accountable for corporate entanglements; the cabinet secretary returns fire with the senator’s own donor records. Neither side emerges clean, and the actual question of who is right gets buried in the noise.

Sources: Raw Story | One Mile at a Time | RedState | WGRZ Buffalo — 2014