A senior lawyer at the Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General said Thursday that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had committed "no violation of law" in his use of private jets for seven official trips.
The lawyer recommended, however, that going forward a "more rigorous and complete" case should be made before government or military jets are made available to Trump administration officials.
The report, by OIG Counsel Rich Delmar, pointed to "a disconnect" between the accepted rules that govern how administration officials request private jets and "the actual amount of proof provided by Treasury and accepted by the White House in justifying these trip requests.
"My summaries show that in almost all cases a single boilerplate statement constituted the whole analysis and justification for designation and use of military aircraft, despite the fact that [the accepted rule] clearly calls for a more rigorous and complete provision of facts and arguments," Delmar wrote.
The boilerplate language that was frequently used read, "Due to scheduling, logistics, and communications needs, the use of reimbursable military aircraft, preferably a C-40, is requested."
A Treasury spokesperson said Thursday that the report "confirmed that each of the secretary's uses of government aircraft was approved by the White House" and that the Treasury Department "followed the same approval procedures and provided the White House the same level of justification as in previous administrations."
In response to a series of recommendations made by the Inspector General, the spokesperson confirmed that Mnuchin and his staff "intend to incorporate [them] fully going forward."
The IG's report was released less than a week after former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price resigned over reports that he spent as much as $1 million of taxpayer funds on private air travel.
Read the entire report, below.