Posted on 08/25/2011 2:39:20 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
The government watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Air Force seeking to obtain details and costs of First Lady Michelle Obamas trip to South Africa and Botswana June 21-27.
The request, announced today, was filed June 28, one day after White House Dossier published an examination of the trip that found it included a significant vacation component and probably cost taxpayers well over $500,000.
From the Judicial Watch announcement:
Judicial Watch is investigating the total cost of the trip to the taxpayers in the face of a ballooning federal debt and a sinking economy. As stated in an analysis by White House Dossier (the blog of White House reporter Keith Koffer, who writes for CongressDaily, National Journal, Roll Call and Politico), the cost to taxpayers for the C-32 was $430,000 alone. This cost is based on an estimated charge of $12,723 an hour, which is what the Department of Defense charges other federal agencies for use of the aircraft. If a military cargo plane was included which typically accompanies a First Lady the cost of transportation could have escalated by another $200,000.
Other costs, such as Secret Service protection, the care and feeding of staff, and pre-trip advance work done by administration officials in Africa, cannot be determined without examining records.
While the stated goal of the trip was youth leadership, education, health and wellness in southern Africa, the excursion included tourist stops to historical landmarks and museums, a chance for Mrs. Obama to meet privately with Nelson Mandela an experience she described as surreal and a private safari.
The first lady brought along her mother, her daughters and two of their cousins the children of her brother Craig Robinson.
A visit to South Africa is important for them as a family, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in South Africa prior to the trip.
White House Dossier is a very informative site.
OMG! I so hope they win. Who the hell does Moochele think she is? If Laura Bush pulled this crap we wouldn’t hear the end of it. And to think this biach is the 3rd most powerful woman in the world! Incredible. Impeach her bastard husband and sue the crap out of the Mooch. (I’ve had a rough day.)
But the leftists were upset over Palins wardrobe.
Just think, once the public finds out, Obama and Michelle will be lucky to leave the country alive. Sooner or later, someone is going to find out, it happens all the time.
I dunno, it might be worth it after all. Gets her out of the country....
If this “most transparent” administration is true to form, look for a bogus submission of documents which don’t answer the questions, subsequent claims that “we have been cooperating to the fullest”, followed by more stalling. Final documents are submitted to Judicial Watch years after the fact, when memory of the event(s) have vanished from the public’s memory.
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~ Ping
Trying to keep up with our tax $ - shouldn’t be a problem, just raise our taxes another twenty-five percent so mochellie can globe trot even more:
Lawsuit Seeks Costs of Michelles South Africa Trip
[snip]
Other costs, such as Secret Service protection, the care and feeding of staff, and pre-trip advance work done by administration officials in Africa, - cannot be determined without examining records.
While the stated goal of the trip was youth leadership, education, health and wellness in southern Africa, the excursion included tourist stops to historical landmarks and museums, a chance for Mrs. Obama to meet privately with Nelson Mandela an experience she described as surreal and a private safari.
The first lady brought along her mother, her daughters and two of their cousins the children of her brother Craig Robinson.
A visit to South Africa is important for them as a family, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in South Africa prior to the trip.
The disgusting part is that she fawned all over that mass murderer, Mandela, the icon of the libtards all over the world. Suppose Mooch-elle never heard of "necklacing"?
And she used our tax dollars to visit the monster, she being a racist too! Maybe she and her Kenyan-born, illegal alien spouse were arranging for living quarters if the Americans ever find out about this massive fraud perpetrated by those two grifters.
But Sarah Palin spent 150k on wardrobe to campaign as VP
Remember how the MSM made such a big stink over that?
Or when Nancy Reagan bought new China for the WH, but said nothing when China bought the WH under Clinton?
If we had an honest media, these grifters would be in jail, not on an extravagant vacation.
Obama would’ve been in jail for the Rezco land purchase alone and would never have even been on the ballot.
Our enemy is the MSM, who enables these criminals to get away with this type of behavior.
And they will do everything possible to get him re-elected, including lying about his opponent while not uttering a word of his disastrous term, let alone his reckless personal spending.
Yeah, Bush took vacations as well - to cut weeds at his personal residence, not travel the world with his extended family and friends and spend money like a Kingpin drug dealer.
BTW, the US media is ignoring this story (lying by omission) while the UK media is giving it some ink.
US MSM - FU and FU BO
that girl on the left looks more like her grandfather every time I see her...
As my late great ex-father in law once said when I asked him about who was the Daddy of a colored lady’s children....he scoffed and said: When a buzz saw hits you in the ass...hard telling which tooth hits you first! Such is the wisdom of finding hussien’s real daddy...
South Africa? Whatever happened to them visiting the roots of Barack Obama in Kenya?
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