Rachel Campos Duffy Defends 5-Part Road Trip Show as Ethics Questions Hit Sponsors
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · May 11
Rachel Campos Duffy Defends 5-Part Road Trip Show as Ethics Questions Hit Sponsors
8 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · May 11
Rachel Campos Duffy hit back at Chasten Buttigieg on X after he mocked her family’s upcoming YouTube series as a taxpayer-funded road trip during $4.55-a-gallon gas and Trump’s Iran war.
The 5-part show follows Sean Duffy, his wife and some of their nine children during a seven-month shoot, with sponsors including Boeing, Shell, Toyota and United Airlines—companies tied to the transport secretary’s regulatory portfolio.
Campos Duffy said a nonprofit covered production costs and her family was paid nothing, while Sean Duffy said DOT ethics and budget officials had cleared his participation.
The backlash widened as Democrats including Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker piled on, arguing the project looked tone-deaf amid fatal aviation incidents and rising household costs.
That scrutiny intensified after deaths at Denver and Orlando airports added to a broader safety record under Duffy that already included the January 2025 Potomac collision that killed 67 people.
Amidst fatal accidents, is a sponsored family road trip the right focus for the nation's top transport official?
With regulated industries sponsoring his family show, can the Transportation Secretary truly remain impartial?