After several weeks of heightened criticism and scandal surrounding his use of private charter and military flights for government trips, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has resigned. According to the Washington Post, President Donald Trump accepted Price’s resignation on Friday afternoon following reports that he was weighing his options of firing Price over the travel scandal.
“He’s a very fine man, but we’re going to make a decision sometime tonight,” Trump told reporters while heading to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. on Friday afternoon, according to WaPo. “I certainly don’t like the optics. I’m not happy, I can tell you that. I’m not happy.”
This comes after Price said earlier in the week that he would pay back the government to the tune of more than $50,000 to cover some of the flights (the $51,887.31 check would reportedly cover the costs of him flying charter, but not so much the costs of his staff.)
Tom Price to resign in order to spend more time flying to and from his family.
— Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) September 29, 2017
While the “optics” were what Trump had issue with this time around, this isn’t the first time Price’s job was on the chopping block. Trump had previously joked (in a decidedly unjoke-y way during that bananas Boy Scouts speech) that he would fire Price if he didn’t manage to get a GOP healthcare bill/Obamacare repeal off the ground.
“He better get the votes,” Trump said, referring to Price. “Otherwise I will say, Tom, you’re fired.”
Price joins a pretty hefty list of former members of the Trump team that have departed and/or been fired by POTUS, including Sean Spicer, Anthony Scaramucci, Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, James Comey, Michael Flynn and more, according to Business Insider.
While it’s yet to be determined who will fill Price’s seat as Secretary of Health and Human services, odds are they will most definitely be flying in Business class or Coach.