Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III requesting an investigation into Secretary Elaine Chao and her reported conflicts of interest. The letter cites newly-obtained information from a recent media report that suggested Secretary Chao used her office to give preferential treatment to organizations and projects in Kentucky, where her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is currently seeking re-election.
“Politico reported that 25 percent of Secretary Chao’s meetings with local officials between January 2017 and March 2018 were with individuals from Kentucky, the same state her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, represents in the U.S. Senate. The report noted that requests for meetings with Secretary Chao are typically forwarded from Senator McConnell’s office to Secretary Chao’s Chief of Staff, who previously worked on Senator McConnell’s Senate campaign,” DeFazio wrote.
The letter goes on to detail several other instances of alleged conflicts of interest including Secretary Chaos’s actions related to her family’s shipping business.
Source: House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
