Rubio’s 15 Personal Jet Trips Cost Taxpayers $1.2 Million as He Attends 10 Gators Games
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 11
Rubio’s 15 Personal Jet Trips Cost Taxpayers $1.2 Million as He Attends 10 Gators Games
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 11
Summary
$1.2 million in estimated flight costs has piled up from Marco Rubio’s government-aircraft travel to Gainesville, including 15 trips the State Department classified as solely personal and seven mixed-use trips.
At least 10 of those trips were for University of Florida football weekends, with Rubio regularly flying in to watch his son Anthony, a walk-on running back, and making at least 23 Gainesville visits since March 2025.
Federal rules require the secretary of state to use government aircraft for security and communications reasons, but for personal travel he reimburses only the equivalent of a commercial economy ticket; the State Department would not disclose what Rubio repaid.
The Post estimated that comparable commercial round trips would total about $18,000 for game-day travel, far below the military flight cost, while ethics experts said the issue appears legal but raises stewardship and transparency concerns.
Former officials said Rubio’s personal travel appears heavier than predecessors’, and the scrutiny carries irony: as a senator in 2023, Rubio demanded an investigation into Pete Buttigieg’s government-aircraft use over taxpayer-waste concerns.