Gift trip to Trump official raises questions as State Dept reels from Guilfoyle scandal

A senior State Department official took a Mediterranean vacation paid for by an Irish billionaire just one month after she was sworn in, and the disclosure comes weeks after an ethics scandal forced out one of President Donald Trump’s ambassadors.

According to a preliminary financial disclosure the Washington Post obtained through a public-records request, Sarah B. Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, went on the trip last November that was paid for by Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison.

Rogers valued the gift at $11,900 and described Collison as a “pre-existing friend predating my government service,” the newspaper reported.

According to a State Department spokesperson, the group flew on Collison’s private plane and visited museums and historical sites in Egypt, Georgia and Greece. Economist Tyler Cowen was also on the trip, which he and Collison organize every year. Collison paid for the whole group.

The department said Rogers disclosed the trip properly, that it was planned before her confirmation and that she has never worked on any government matter involving Stripe, a financial services and technology company. Collison’s spokesperson said there were “no business meetings conducted.”

Still, Rogers has interacted with Collison online from her official account. Shortly after the vacation, she quote-tweeted his post about a “vibe shift” in Silicon Valley. Last month, she reposted a video of him speaking at a White House science event.

Federal rules allow officials to accept gifts motivated by personal friendship. Ethics experts told the Post they couldn’t tell from the filing whether the trip broke the law, but they said it falls into a gray area.

“I think the best practice for any government employee is to avoid accepting even permissible gifts to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest,” said Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight.

The disclosure lands as the State Department is still dealing with the fallout from Kimberly Guilfoyle’s resignation as ambassador to Greece last month. The Wall Street Journal reported that she asked a political donor for $100,000 to pay her personal credit card bill in exchange for political access. Guilfoyle has denied wrongdoing. Afterward, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a department-wide memo reminding staff to avoid conflicts of interest.

The State Department said Rogers is committed to the “highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethics for which the Department and Secretary Rubio are known.”

Washington University law professor Kathleen Clark wasn’t convinced. That standard, she said, “apparently includes accepting an extravagant gift from a billionaire.” She said the “really simple fix” would have been “paying for it herself.”

Collison’s net worth has jumped more than 70 percent this year to $16.3 billion. This year he also spent more than $33 million to help defeat a proposed wealth tax in California.

Trump nominated Rogers in March to lead the agency that oversees Voice of America. The Senate has not yet voted on her nomination.

The Post also reported Wednesday that Rubio has run up more than $1.2 million in taxpayer-funded flights to Gainesville, Florida, many of them to watch his son’s college football team play.