EXPOSED: Zach Nunn Caught Playing Tourist in Europe During Government Shutdown
Daily Beast: “Nunn spent $86,784.22 on member travel in the 119th Congress, the third-highest total of any House member.”
DES MOINES – New reporting exposes Zach Nunn for gallivanting around Europe on an “all-expenses-paid European tour” during the government shutdown.
Nunn’s trip included “plenty of tourism” – a “private guided tour of Edinburgh Castle,” a “walk down the city’s Royal Mile,” and a visit to “Falkland Palace, one of the favorite residences of Mary, Queen of Scots” – and this is “one of four expensive foreign excursions he’s taken so far this Congress,” including travel to Greece, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.
POINTS GUY? According to Daily Beast, “Nunn spent $86,784.22 on member travel in the 119th Congress, the third-highest total of any House member.”
From Iowa Democratic Party Spokesperson Paige Godden:
“While Iowans were footing the bill for a government shutdown and paying higher prices at the pump due to the Iran War, Zach Nunn was quietly gallivanting around in Europe. Nunn spent tens of thousands of dollars on travel as he told Iowans that high gas prices are ‘overhyped’ – he’s beyond out of touch.”
Read more:
The Daily Beast: MAGA Rep Took Wife on Lavish Trip During Gov Shutdown
- MAGA Rep. Zach Nunn went on an all-expenses-paid European tour as everyday Iowans suffered during a government shutdown, the Daily Beast has learned.
- Nunn, who has been broadly supportive of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran and who the 80-year-old called “100 percent MAGA,” spent a week touring castles, sites connected to the British Royals, and soaking in Irish culture in Dublin between March 29 and April 4.
- The costly trip, which included his wife Kelly, was sponsored by the Republican Main Street Partnership, according to his official House disclosure.
- Indeed, the itinerary had stakeholder meetings and corporate sit-downs, including a reception with Coupang executives, breakfast with Ørsted’s American chief executive, and visits to Meta and Salesforce, but it also included plenty of tourism.
- Nunn, an Air Force veteran, enjoyed a private guided tour of Edinburgh Castle, a walk down the city’s Royal Mile, and a stop at the historically significant Falkland Palace, one of the favorite residences of Mary, Queen of Scots.
- And that was just the Scottish leg of the journey. He also visited Dublin, Ireland, where he saw the Book of Kells, a 9th-century illuminated manuscript containing the four Gospels of the New Testament in Latin.
- In London, he took in the historic Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. The disclosure records $15,400 in gift travel for Nunn alone, with the partnership covering the couple’s travel expenses and an estimated $330 per person in meals and incidentals.
- [The trip] came in the middle of what became the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, a 76-day lapse that left Department of Homeland Security employees without paychecks and strained operations at the Coast Guard, FEMA and the Transportation Security Administration.
- Nunn’s Scotland trip was just one of four expensive foreign excursions he’s taken so far this Congress, including trips to Greece, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.
- According to Legistorm, which tracks congressional travel, Nunn spent $86,784.22 on member travel in the 119th Congress, the third-highest total of any House member.
- Nunn wasn’t alone in racking up frequent-flyer miles. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa was tied for approving the second-most trips of any congressional office this session, with 15 total, and her office spent $30,056.22 on travel, according to Legistorm records.
- The travel comes as all three lawmakers have backed President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, a conflict that has driven up costs for their constituents back home.
- Moody’s Analytics calculated that the war had cost American households roughly $750 each, or $100 billion nationwide, as of June, driven by higher military spending and oil price spikes tied to disruptions in the Middle East.
- Iowa households alone paid an extra $516 in gas costs since the war began in February, according to an analysis by the minority staff of Congress’s Joint Economic Committee, with national gas prices running about 30 percent higher than before the conflict started. Airfare has climbed too, with jet fuel prices nearly doubling in the weeks after fighting began.
- Nunn similarly told a Politico Pro reporter that concerns about inflation tied to the war were “overhyped, candidly, by the media,” while telling supporters at a rally that the sacrifices, including Iowa’s disproportionate share of American combat deaths, were worth it to protect the country’s energy independence.
- “The main goal of a public servant should be putting service first,” Nunn crows on his website. He campaigns on “working to lower taxes and balance our budget to return money to Iowans.” It is unclear how his European adventure contributes to this.
- Nunn’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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