Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is facing scrutiny after reports surfaced that he boarded a state-owned aircraft to travel to a recent U2 concert also attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Super PAC America Rising filed a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the office of the Virginia governor asking for documents related to McAuliffe’s travel and schedule since he assumed the governorship in January 2014.
The FOIA requests demand information regarding trips that McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton ally, has taken on both private and state-owned aircraft in addition to details about his travel partners, according to the Washington Examiner.
Last week, reports surfaced that McAuliffe paid for a state-owned aircraft to transport him to a U2 concert on July 31 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, a trip that was not noted in his public calendar. His office confirmed that the governor took the state-owned airplane but insisted he paid the costs himself.
The Clintons were also in attendance, evening winning praise from the band’s frontman, Bono.
Photographs posted to social media appear to show McAuliffe and the Clintons sitting next to one another, though the governor’s office refused to confirm whether the trio attended the event together.
"Like Secretary Clinton, Governor McAuliffe has demonstrated a disturbing pattern of ducking accountability, lacking transparency, and acting as if the rules don’t apply to him," America Rising PAC press secretary Amelia Chassé said of the issue. "As he prepares to jet around the country as a top Clinton surrogate, Virginia taxpayers deserve to know whether their absentee governor is politicking on their dime."
McAuliffe, who allegedly named his pet chicken "Hillary," was a major fundraiser for Bill Clinton and chaired Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.