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DNC says it will reimburse government for First Lady Jill Biden’s Delaware-Paris flights
The Democratic National Committee said Monday that it plans to reimburse the federal government for First Lady Jill Biden’s flights to and from Paris to attend the federal trial of her son, Hunter Biden.
A DNC spokeswoman confirmed to CBS News that the national party plans to pay “for the first class travel of the First Lady.” The move is similar to how the DNC and the Biden reelection campaign split the costs of flights for President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses when they fly on government aircraft to a mix of official and political events.
The White House Military Office determines the reimbursement rates using Pentagon-issued cost estimates. First Ladies typically fly on smaller Boeing jets than the traditional 747 model used for presidential travel. The reimbursement rate for the flights the First Lady took could run at least $15,000, based on the Pentagon tabulations.
The Daily Mail first reported the reimbursement plans earlier Monday, and quoted the First Lady’s office as saying, “In accordance with relevant regulations utilized across administrations, the government is reimbursed the value of a first-class fare for these flights to Wilmington and back to Paris.”
Multiple attempts to obtain the same statement from the First Lady’s office went unanswered Monday and the Biden reelection campaign referred CBS News to the DNC for comment.
It is standard practice for the DNC and Republican National Committee to reimburse for government-paid flights to political events —but last week’s itinerary for the First Lady was especially notable given the international destination.
She attended the first day of jury selection last week and then spent roughly 24 hours over three days flying to France, attending D-Day commemoration ceremonies in Normandy, then back to her family’s hometown to sit in the Wilmington federal courthouse Friday to watch granddaughter Naomi Biden testify. The First Lady was back in Paris by 6 a.m. local time Saturday to attend a full day of events, including a welcome ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, a tour of Louis Vuitton Foundation museum’s art collection and a state dinner at the Élysée Palace.
First Ladies do not have the option of flying commercial given security concerns and always travel with a full Secret Service detail.
David Martin contributed to this report.
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U.S. troops leaving Niger bases this weekend and in August after coup, officials say
The U.S. will remove all its forces and equipment from a small base in Niger this weekend and fewer than 500 remaining troops will leave a critical drone base in the West African country in August, ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline set in an agreement with the new ruling junta, the American commander there said Friday.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman said in an interview that a number of small teams of 10-20 U.S. troops, including special operations forces, have moved to other countries in West Africa. But the bulk of the forces will go, at least initially, to Europe.
Niger’s ouster of American troops following a coup last year has broad ramifications for the U.S. because it is forcing troops to abandon the critical drone base that was used for counterterrorism missions in the Sahel.
Ekman and other U.S. military leaders have said other West African nations want to work with the U.S. and may be open to an expanded American presence. He did not detail the locations, but other U.S. officials have pointed to the Ivory Coast and Ghana as examples.
Ekman, who serves as the director for strategy at U.S. Africa Command, is leading the U.S. military withdrawal from the small base at the airport in Niger’s capital of Niamey and from the larger counterterrorism base in the city of Agadez. He said there will be a ceremony Sunday marking the completed pullout from the airport base, then those final 100 troops and the last C-17 transport aircraft will depart.
Speaking to reporters from The Associated Press and Reuters from the U.S. embassy in Niamey, Ekman said that while portable buildings and vehicles that are no longer useful will be left behind, a lot of larger equipment will be pulled out. For example, he said 18 4,000-pound (1,800-kilograms) generators worth more than $1 million each will be taken out of Agadez.
Unlike the withdrawal from Afghanistan, he said the U.S. is not destroying equipment or facilities as it leaves.
“Our goal in the execution is, leave things in as good a state as possible,” he said. “If we went out and left it a wreck or we went out spitefully, or if we destroyed things as we went, we’d be foreclosing options” for future security relations.
Niger’s ruling junta ordered U.S. forces out of the country in the wake of last July’s ouster of the country’s democratically elected president by mutinous soldiers. French forces had also been asked to leave as the junta turned to the Russian mercenary group Wagner for security assistance.
Washington officially designated the military takeover as a coup in October, triggering U.S. laws restricting the military support and aid.