U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio burned through more than $1.2 million in taxpayer funds on military flights to attend his son's college football games in Florida, according to federal flight records and operating cost assessments. The tab spans 15 personal journeys across the past two collegiate seasons.
The public balance sheet absorbed the hit.
Flight logs track 23 military aircraft journeys Rubio made to Gainesville, home of the University of Florida Gators. While eight trips involved official business, 15 served purely personal purposes: watching his son, Anthony Rubio, a walk-on running back. Yet collegiate athletic records show Anthony, a senior and the third of Rubio’s four children, barely took the field. Over four full seasons, he appeared in exactly four competitive games, logging 14 carries for 75 yards and a single touchdown.
On November 7, Rubio boarded an Air Force C-37 executive jet at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The twin-engine transport touched down at Homestead Air Reserve Base near Miami before completing a second hop to Gainesville. Rubio watched from the sidelines as the Gators stumbled to a 23-7 defeat against Oklahoma. His son never took a single snap.
| Travel & Athletic Metric | Record Detail |
|---|---|
| Accused Official | U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio |
| Total Military Flights to Gainesville | 23 Trips |
| Journeys Classified as Personal | 15 Flights |
| Estimated Operating Expense | Exceeding $1.2 Million |
| Son's Four-Year Playing Record | 4 Games Played, 14 Carries, 75 Yards, 1 Touchdown |
| Primary Transport Aircraft | U.S. Air Force C-37 |
Cabinet protocols dictate the transport hardware. Federal continuity-of-government regulations compel the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the directors of the FBI and CIA to travel exclusively aboard military aircraft to preserve uninterrupted secure communications during transit.
Predecessors kept their flight manifests narrow. Antony Blinken took personal government flights only a couple of times a year during his tenure as secretary of state.
Federal rules require senior officials who book military aircraft for personal business to reimburse the U.S. Treasury. But the mechanism favors the official: travelers owe only the cash equivalent of a standard commercial economy ticket—a microscopic fraction of the hourly operating costs run up by Air Force VIP transports. Neither the State Department nor Rubio's office disclosed how much money, if any, the secretary repaid.
If this travel becomes something that is undermining the integrity of your service, are you really taking care of taxpayer dollars the way that you're obligated to as a public official? It is something that I think is really important to shine the light on.
Cynthia Brown, Senior Ethics Counsel, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Brown pointed out that while Rubio did not breach black-letter law, personal discretion remains decisive. The secretary alone chooses how frequently to take off.
Rubio struck back at critics, refusing to curtail his flights.
"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," Rubio said in a formal statement.
The spending records expose sharp political irony. In 2023, while serving as a Republican U.S. senator representing Florida, Rubio launched fierce broadsides against then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for booking federal jets on personal trips.
"American taxpayers deserve assurances that their tax dollars are not wasted by the government’s highest officials," Rubio insisted during his 2023 Senate push for a formal probe. The Department of Transportation's inspector general audited eight trips costing $59,000 and cleared Buttigieg of wrongdoing.
The State Department closed ranks behind Rubio. Assistant Secretary of State Dylan Johnson denounced scrutiny of the travel manifests.
"The Secretary of State (like POTUS, VP, SecWar, and others) is REQUIRED to use military aircraft to maintain access to secure communications at all times and comply with continuity of government protocols," Johnson stated, dismissing comparisons to cabinet heads who lead domestic agencies.
Congressional committees oversee State Department executive accounts and retain the authority to demand flight logs, fuel expenditures, and reimbursement receipts as lawmakers finalize upcoming federal budget authorizations.