Graft for Jarrett? $467,175 Spent on Obama’s Failed Two-Week Bid To Bring 2016 Olympics to Chicago, Reports Judicial Watch

“Jarrett’s work on the Olympics bid would have violated Obama’s own Executive Order against engaging in lobbying activities prior to his administration,” stated Judicial Watch. “However, then-‘Ethics Czar’ Norm Eisen granted Jarrett an ‘ethics waver’ from the president’s highly-touted ethics pledge so Jarrett could run the push for the Chicago Olympics bid. The waiver exempted Jarrett from the restrictions of President Obama’s own ethics pledge, even though she had personally led the bid before entering the White House.”

And I bet you thought this failed bid went away two years ago.

$467,175 Spent on Obama’s Failed Two-Week Bid To Bring 2016 Olympics to Chicago, Reports Judicial Watch | CNSnews.com

By Edwin Mora

January 10, 2012

(CNSNews.com) – The two-week trip to Copenhagen, Denmark that Obama, his wife, and members of his administration made in a failed attempt to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago cost taxpayers more than $467,000, according to expense records from the Department of Defense (DOD) obtained by the government watchdog group Judicial Watch.

“Expenses for the two-week trip appear to have far exceeded $467,175 in light of the fact that costs associated with the aircrafts -- two Boeing 747s and several Air Force cargo planes – have not been made available,” stated Judicial Watch (JW) in a press release today about the expense records it obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The DOD provides support, such as aircraft, for foreign travel by the president, the first lady, and members of the administration.

Despite the two-week trip in 2009 (Sept. 21 – Oct. 3) to Copenhagen, President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, celebrity Oprah Winfrey, and numerous administration officials failed to persuade members of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) to select Chicago as the site for the 2016 Olympics.

Among the estimated $467,175 in U.S. taxpayer funds that were spent on the effort, a little over half -- $235,659 – were devoted to hotel rentals and “transportation and communications” costs for seven administration’ “offices” accrued through October 2, 2009, according to JW’s data.

That does not include the $33,044 spent on an “extra day in hotel” (Oct. 3, 2009), a figure that indicates the daily lodging costs. The second largest expense was $129,276 (about 28 percent) for “travel vouchers for hotel, mileage, reimbursed expenses, and flight costs for persons attending.” What remained -- $69,196 -- was spent on flying the journalists to Copenhagen. ....

Obama named Jarrett the “Olympics Czar,” charged with leading the bid for bringing the Olympics to Chicago.

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