US First Lady Spends $363,000 on China Trip Travel Expenses - Watchdog

Records reveal that Michelle Obama has spent $363,000 in taxpayer’s money on a trip to see China’s most popular landmarks, Judicial Watch reports.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US Department of the Air Force records reveal that First Lady Michelle Obama has spent $363,000 in taxpayer’s money on a trip to see China’s most popular landmarks, the watchdog Judicial Watch reported.

“Michelle Obama’s 2014 trip to China cost American taxpayers $362,523.53 in air travel expenses alone,” the release read on Wednesday.

On March 19-26, 2015, Mrs. Obama, her daughters and her mother visited China in what the White House called was an effort by the First Lady to push her education agenda.

The $363,000 sum also included the cost for support personnel in a C-32A presidential aircraft.

Mrs. Obama and her family stayed at a Beijing presidential suite that charges $8,350-per-night, and visited Beijing’s Forbidden City and Summer Palace as well as the Great Wall, the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi’an, and the Chengdu Panda Base, the release read.

The Obamas’ trips to Africa and Honolulu have cost taxpayers about $16 million in flight expenses alone, while the Obamas’ Ireland trip cost about $8 million, the watchdog added.

To date, travel expenses for the Obamas and the Vice President Joe Biden’s family have exceeded $57 million.