Why Did Steve Mnuchin Lie About Watching The Eclipse?
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton watch the eclipse outside Fort Knox. Image by US Department of the Treasury
By Ari Feldman April 26, 2018
Did Steve Mnuchin take an expensive, taxpayer-funded trip to Fort Knox to view the solar eclipse? That seems more likely after documents obtained by Think Progress show Mnuchin and his wife viewing the eclipse — after he said he had no plans to watch it.
At the time, Mnuchin laughed off the notion that he was using Fort Knox’s geographic location — near to the path of totality, where the eclipse would be most pronounced — by pleading to his native city.
“People in Kentucky took this stuff very seriously. Being a New Yorker, I don’t have any interest in watching the eclipse,” Mnuchin told the Washington Post.
But a Freedom of Information Act request surfaced a black-and-white photograph that shows Mnuchin viewing the eclipse outside Fort Knox, aided by special eclipse-viewing glasses. (According to the documents, the U.S. Mint provided the glasses.)
The Fort Knox trip came amid questions over Mnuchin’s use of taxpayer funds to travel. The trip came after the New York Times reported that Mnuchin had used a military aircraft to travel, which cost taxpayers over $800,000. The Kentucky trip cost over $26,000.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
