State Department official calls Washington Post report on Rubio's military flights moronic

A State Department official has publicly attacked a Washington Post report claiming that Secretary of State Marco Rubio flies military jets to Florida football games, calling the story "moronic" in a post on X. The official, Dylan Johnson, took issue with the newspaper's framing of trips that the Post says Rubio is required to take on government aircraft.

According to the Post, personal flights taken by Rubio have cost the government more than $1.2 million. The newspaper reported that the reimbursement Rubio is required to pay covers only the equivalent of an economy-class fare, a small fraction of what the flights cost. The trips are tied to Rubio's son, who plays football at Rubio's alma mater, and the secretary has said he will keep attending family and personal events.

The Post's account frames the travel as a matter of how public resources are used rather than a question of whether the trips are permitted. A government ethics expert cited in the reporting said the trips comply with existing rules but still raise a question about the stewardship of public money. That distinction matters to the story: the expert did not find a violation, only a cost-and-judgment concern.

The Post also drew a comparison with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who faced an audit over his own use of military aircraft. Johnson rejected that comparison, noting that the transportation secretary was not required to fly military aircraft, unlike the arrangement the Post described for Rubio. In the Post's telling, the difference in requirements is what separates the two cases.

The practice of requiring senior officials to use government planes for personal travel dates back to 1993, according to the reporting, which places the current arrangement within a long-standing policy rather than a recent change. The reporting does not indicate whether the requirement has been revisited since then.

The State Department had not immediately responded to further requests for comment when the Post story was published, leaving the department's full position on the cost figures and the reimbursement formula unstated beyond Johnson's criticism. Johnson's remarks on X are the department's most direct public response so far.

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Connor Quincy

Technology Reporter

Connor Quincy covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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