Lifestyles of the Grift and Infamous: Marco Rubio Jets to Watch Son Play Florida Gators Football

Nov 13, 2026 02:12 PM EST, Fri

Rubio relies on costly military jets to attend college football games

During Donald Trump’s first term, several cabinet secretaries faced controversies over taxpayer-financed travel. Years later, it’s happening again.

By Steve Benen

Nov. 11, 2026, 3:57 PM EST

Given the number of positions Marco Rubio holds on Donald Trump’s team — the president has tapped the Florida Republican to serve as secretary of state, White House national security adviser, acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the acting archivist for the National Archives and the de facto viceroy of Venezuela, among other things — it’s tempting to assume he doesn’t have a lot of down time.

But as it turns out, Rubio has managed to carve out time to attend several college football games. And while it’s certainly true the secretary can do as he pleases during his free time, there is some concern about how he’s arranged to attend several college football games. The Washington Post reported:

College football here comes with its rituals: Orange and blue pour through the streets. Fans stream toward the University of Florida’s stadium, nicknamed The Swamp, hours before kickoff. And on most home-game weekends, a sleek white military jet descends on the small regional airport near campus.

On a recent early November Saturday afternoon, it was a C-37 that touched down, carrying the team’s most recognizable parent, a blue polo replacing his usual suit and tie. Security officers roamed the north end of Gainesville Regional Airport as a line of five unmarked SUVs crept up, swept up their passenger and rolled off toward campus.

The passenger, of course, was Rubio, whose son is a walk-on running back for the Gators. He hasn’t been to every game this year, and his son rarely gets playing time, but Rubio has flown in to catch at least five of the team’s games, not including other trips from last season.

“I have and will continue to try and make it to as many events that are important to me personally and to my family as possible,” the secretary said in a statement.

At face value, it might seem tough to blame anyone for going to their kid’s sporting events, but in a situation like this, it’s not quite that simple: Rubio has used government planes to fly to Gainesville, Florida, at least 23 times, and his overall travel has cost taxpayers more than $1.2 million since joining the administration.

“Government ethics experts said that while Rubio’s travel complies with federal rules, it raises a question about stewardship of public money,” the Post’s report added. “The handful of government officials who aren’t allowed to fly commercially have little choice in how they travel, they said, but they retain control over how frequently they take personal trips.”

Complicating matters, it’s not just Rubio. When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ignored ethics laws and hit the campaign trail ahead of Election Day, he also used costly military aircraft for at least some of his travels.

Then going back to Trump’s first term, a surprising number of Cabinet secretaries were caught up in similar controversies, including then-HHS Secretary Tom Price, who was forced to resign just seven months into his tenure following revelations that he relied on taxpayer-financed private flights with unnerving frequency. A year later, the public learned that then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had also relied on military flights for reasons the administration struggled to explain. Then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke faced a plane-related controversy of his own.

Now, during Trump’s second term, everything is up in the air again.

As for Rubio, during the Biden administration, the then-senator requested an investigation into then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s use of government planes.

“American taxpayers deserve assurances that their tax dollars are not wasted by the government’s highest officials,” Rubio wrote in 2023 while asking for the review. “I am committed to both holding Secretary Buttigieg accountable for any fraudulent use of government aircraft, and ensuring compliance with DOT policies and procedures.”

An audit found that Buttigieg had complied with federal rules, with travel costs totaling $59,000 — roughly one-twentieth the amount Rubio has spent.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

  1. Katie Zacharia lasted less than half a Scaramucci2 as White House Press Press Secretary. 2026-10-12 – 2026-10-16 ↩

  2. Anthony Scaramucci / LinkedIn White House Press Communications Director. 2007-07-21 – 2007-07-31 ↩

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