dChan
Anonymous ID: ef5e6e June 27, 2019, 3:33 p.m. No.6858752   🗄️.is đź”—kun

“We are aware of the deployment of the Russian ship Gorshkov and are taking steps to actively track it. … NORAD is conducting air operations in defense of the US & Canada and USNORTHCOM has deployed maritime assets to track Gorshkov,” says @USNorthernCmd.

 

Putin and @POTUS are to meet here in less 7 hours from now. #G20OsakaSummit

 

CST

https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/1144372250491047936

Anonymous ID: ef5e6e June 27, 2019, 3:43 p.m. No.6858883   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>8912 >>8924 >>8955 >>9024

Top Democrats book taxpayer-funded military jet for secret jaunt to Scandinavia

 

Top Democrats are due to take a taxpayer-funded military jet to Denmark to give speeches at a ritzy pro-democracy conference, raising questions about possible misuse of resources.

 

Rather than book cheaper commercial flights, Adam Schiff, House Intelligence Committee chairman, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and at least three House colleagues are scheduled to depart Joint Base Andrews on the military plane around 8:45 p.m. Thursday.

 

Schiff’s Friday speech kicks off a six-day Nordic jaunt that he will lead, according to an unclassified but confidential itinerary seen by the Washington Examiner. Schiff, at least four colleagues, and two committee staff also will stop in Finland and Norway.

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A high-profile Trump enemy, Schiff will speak Friday at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit about “confronting the challenge to liberal democracies around the world" and “the appeal of authoritarianism.” Schiff identified Trump as such a threat in February, calling Trump a “deeply unethical president” uncommitted to “institutions of our democracy,” meaning “the threat to our democracy right now is most pronounced from within.”

 

Hoyer is scheduled to speak at 1:20 p.m. local time. Schiff, whose committee recently subpoenaed special counsel Robert Mueller, is up 4:25 p.m. Both speeches will be streamed on Facebook, according to an event spokesman.

 

The precise military plane was not described in the itinerary, but there are four small jets based at Joint Base Andrews for executive branch or congressional use. The 12-passenger C-37A planes are modified Gulfstream jets and have a reimbursement rate of $8,227 per flight hour. A flight to Copenhagen would take about 8 hours, costing about $66,000 one way.

 

House business ends around 3 p.m. Thursday, but lawmakers would be able to arrive in Copenhagen in time if they flew commercial.

 

As of Wednesday, flight options included a Lufthansa flight departing at 6:15 p.m. and an Air France direct flight at 6:05 p.m., both of which depart Dulles International Airport, and both scheduled to land in Copenhagen at 11:20 a.m. local time, more than two hours before Hoyer’s speech and more than five hours before Schiff’s.

 

Both the Lufthansa and Air France flights ran about $2,300 per ticket on Wednesday afternoon, though it’s possible they would cost less if booked earlier. The five lawmakers traveling Thursday and two committee staff would have paid about $16,000 for last-minute commercial flights, saving about 76% of the cost of the presumed military plane.

 

The trip is likely to trigger a debate among watchdogs.

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/schiff-and-hoyer-book-pricey-taxpayer-funded-military-jet-to-europe-for-speeches