Pelosi On A Plane-Truth! & Fiction!

The Continuing Controversy of Speaker Of The House Pelosi’s Private Jet-Truth! & Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:

A forwarded email that complains about Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, using a “Big Fat Jet” that has the capacity for 200 passengers and wastes fuel when she travels alone from her home state of California to Washington DC.

The Truth:

On March 11, 2009, Newsmax reported that “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been treating the United States Air Force as her personal airline, blocking out multiple flights, issuing last minute cancellations after planes and crew are prepped and ready, and expressing outrage when the military aircraft weren’t available.” 

The article said it was “based on Air Force documents obtained by Judicial Watch, the nonprofit organization that exposes government waste and corruption.”   It also said that the Speaker made some requests for travel for her and her husband that were in conflict to Department of Defense guidelines and when denied accommodations on some occasions her staff seemed not to take no for answer.    Click for story.

In December of 2008, various eRumors were circulating about the Speaker of the House and her choice of military aircraft for travel.

It was reported that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi does occasionally travel on an aircraft provided by the US Air Force but this is not of her own choosing.  

Various news sources, including Fox, CNN, CBS and MSNBC have reported back in February of 2007 that Speaker of the House has been flying from coast to coast non-stop on a larger sized Air Force jet aircraft at the recommendation of the House of Congress Sergeant of Arms, Bill Livingood and the authorization of President Bush.   According to a CNN report on Feb 9, 2007, “Livingood said the request was his, and he made it for security reasons.”

In a statement on a CBS news website, the Californian Congresswomen and Speaker of the House said that she actually prefers to travel on commercial airliners where she can sit with her friends and get work done. 

According to a February 05, 2007 Fox News article, Speaker Pelosi did inquire about an aircraft for a Democratic party conference in Williamsberg, VA.  The voyage was about 152 miles and no plane was provided.

Click for Pelosi statement on CBS

updated 03/11/09