Ethics Watchdog Files Complaint With DOT Inspector General Over Sec. Duffy’s Reality Show Family Road Trip

AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog nonprofit, filed a complaint Monday asking the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General to investigate Secretary Sean Duffy’s family road trip that he filmed for a reality television show.

Duffy announced on Friday that he and his wife Rachel Campos-Duffy had filmed a new reality television series over seven months while traveling around the U.S. with their nine children, calling it The Great American Road Trip. The Duffys met when they were both involved in MTV’s Real World reality series, and married in 1999.

The news about a Cabinet official filming a reality television series was criticized by some as “out of touch,” especially in light of high gas prices and other inflationary pressures on American family budgets. Others, like The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell, questioned the conflicts of interest inherent in having the trip sponsored by corporate interests that Duffy’s agency regulates.

Duffy has defended the trip as “wholesome,” “patriotic,” and “joyful,” said it was intended to be part of the celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary, and denounced critics as “haters” and the “radical, miserable left.”

On Monday, CREW announced it had filed a complaint asking the DOT Inspector General to investigate because Duffy’s road trip “may have violated federal gift and travel rules.”

A key issue of CREW’s complaint is the conflict of interest between the regulatory oversight of the DOT and the big corporations that bankrolled The Great American Road Trip.

A spokesperson for DOT said that the production costs for the show “were paid for by the Great American Road Trip, Inc.,” a statement by CREW said, describing this organization as “a nonprofit led by a former transportation industry lobbyist and funded by companies regulated by the agency.”

Among the companies that funded this effort were Toyota, United Airlines, and Boeing, which have been “previously fined or audited by the agency,” and Toyota had one of its vehicles “prominently featured in the promotional video” for the show, CREW’s statement added.

“As everyday Americans struggle with rising gas prices and raise concerns about airline safety, Secretary Duffy announced that he spent work time going on a trip apparently funded by the very industries his agency oversees,” said CREW President Donald K. Sherman. “The second Trump administration has not earned an ounce of trust when it comes to putting the public’s needs before the desires of corporations that are funding administration pet projects. The public deserves clarity on exactly how the funding for Secretary Duffy’s travel worked and assurance that the companies involved, including a foreign automaker, will not receive preferential treatment from the agency.”

CREW also questioned whether Duffy’s participation in the show violated ethics rules:

The federal gift ban states that, except under a limited set of circumstances, no officer or employee of the executive shall solicit or accept anything of value from an entity involved with their agency. Because federal officials’ travel must be paid for by taxpayer funds to ensure private interests are not driving government decisions, rules mandate that federal officials’ travel on agency aircraft generally must be for official purposes. The Standards of Ethical Conduct prohibit executive branch officials from using, or permitting the use of, their government position or title to imply that their agency or the government endorses their personal activities. Officials are also prohibited from using the authority of their position to endorse any product, service or enterprise.

The complaint highlights how a promotional video for the show has been posted on official DOT social media accounts, and includes official DOT logos, Duffy and his family visiting President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, visits to National Park Services locations with government officials and members of the military in uniform, and appearances from other high-ranking officials including Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, “in his official capacity.”

Among the potential areas of investigation that CREW urges the DOT Inspector General to consider are asking if Duffy “follow[ed] proper protocol and receive[d] necessary approval for participation” in the show, if taxpayer funds and staff time were used to support Duffy’s participation, if Duffy or his family “accept[ed] any travel, hospitality or other gifts” and if so, were they “provided by entities with business before the Department?”

Read the complaint here.

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