{"id":6626,"date":"2011-08-25T18:14:59","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T22:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=6626"},"modified":"2011-08-25T18:14:59","modified_gmt":"2011-08-25T22:14:59","slug":"lawsuit-seeks-costs-of-michelle%e2%80%99s-south-africa-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/08\/lawsuit-seeks-costs-of-michelle%e2%80%99s-south-africa-trip.html","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit Seeks Costs of Michelle\u2019s South Africa Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The first lady brought along her mother, her daughters and two of their cousins \u2013 the children of her brother Craig Robinson. <\/strong><\/h1>\n

(And YOU paid for it!!! – Probably well over a half million dollars!!!<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"\"Michele Obama and First Daughters Sasha and Malia in South Africa. \u00a0Not pictured the rest of her relatives she brought along.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

by\u00a0KEITH KOFFLER\u00a0on\u00a0AUGUST 25, 2011, 2:20 PM<\/abbr><\/p>\n

The government watchdog group\u00a0Judicial Watch\u00a0<\/a>has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Air Force seeking to obtain details and costs of First Lady Michelle Obama\u2019s trip to South Africa and Botswana June 21-27.<\/p>\n

The request, announced today, was filed June 28, one day after\u00a0White House Dossier<\/em>\u00a0published\u00a0an examination<\/a>\u00a0of the trip that found it included a significant vacation component and probably cost taxpayers well over $500,000.<\/p>\n

From the Judicial Watch announcement:<\/p>\n

Judicial Watch is investigating the total cost of the trip to the taxpayers in the face of a ballooning federal debt and a sinking economy. As stated in an analysis by\u00a0White House Dossier\u00a0(the blog of White House reporter Keith Koffer, who writes for\u00a0CongressDaily<\/em>,\u00a0National Journal<\/em>,\u00a0Roll Call<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Politico<\/em>), the cost to taxpayers for the C-32 was $430,000 alone. This cost is based on an estimated charge of $12,723 an hour, which is what the Department of Defense charges other federal agencies for use of the aircraft. If a military cargo plane was included \u2013 which typically accompanies a First Lady \u2013 the cost of transportation could have escalated by another $200,000.<\/p>\n

Other costs, such as Secret Service protection, the care and feeding of staff, and pre-trip advance work done by administration officials in Africa, cannot be determined without examining records.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While the stated goal of the trip was\u00a0\u201cyouth leadership, education, health and wellness\u201d in southern Africa, the excursion included tourist stops to historical landmarks and museums, a chance for Mrs. Obama to meet privately with Nelson Mandela \u2013 an experience she described as \u201csurreal\u201d \u2013 and a private safari.<\/p>\n

The first lady brought along her mother, her daughters and two of their cousins \u2013 the children of her brother Craig Robinson.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA visit to South Africa is important for them as a family,\u201d said a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in South Africa prior to the trip.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0http:\/\/www.whitehousedossier.com\/2011\/08\/25\/lawsuit-seeks-costs-michelles-south-africa-trip\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first lady brought along her mother, her daughters and two of their cousins \u2013 the children of her brother Craig Robinson. (And YOU paid for it!!! – Probably well over a half million dollars!!!)   Michele Obama and First Daughters Sasha and Malia in South Africa. \u00a0Not pictured the rest of her relatives she…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[599,701,704,223,1502,705,885,1680,174,1354,2228,35,450,176,1516],"tags":[9411,2523,2524,2522,2525,2526,2473],"class_list":["post-6626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-government","category-democrats","category-economics","category-economy","category-godlessness","category-government-2","category-government-waste","category-injustice","category-jobs","category-liberals","category-michele-obama","category-obama","category-politics","category-recession","category-u-s-debt","tag-michele-obama","tag-nelson-mandela","tag-private-safari","tag-south-africa","tag-surreal-experience","tag-tourist-stops","tag-vacation-junkie-first-lady-obama"],"yoast_head":"\nLawsuit Seeks Costs of Michelle\u2019s South Africa Trip - Watchwoman on the Wall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/08\/lawsuit-seeks-costs-of-michelle\u2019s-south-africa-trip.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawsuit Seeks Costs of Michelle\u2019s South Africa Trip - Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first lady brought along her mother, her daughters and two of their cousins \u2013 the children of her brother Craig Robinson. (And YOU paid for it!!! – Probably well over a half million dollars!!!)   Michele Obama and First Daughters Sasha and Malia in South Africa. \u00a0Not pictured the rest of her relatives she…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/08\/lawsuit-seeks-costs-of-michelle\u2019s-south-africa-trip.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-25T22:14:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/53563000\/jpg\/_53563322_arrival_afp.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Calvin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lawsuit Seeks Costs of Michelle\u2019s South Africa Trip - Watchwoman on the Wall","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/08\/lawsuit-seeks-costs-of-michelle\u2019s-south-africa-trip.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lawsuit Seeks Costs of Michelle\u2019s South Africa Trip - Watchwoman on the Wall","og_description":"The first lady brought along her mother, her daughters and two of their cousins \u2013 the children of her brother Craig Robinson. 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