Climate Secretary John Kerry was caught wearing a mask while reading a book on an American Airlines flight, despite a mandate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requiring masks on flights.
The photo, which was first posted by the conservative Tennessee Star newspaper, shows the former secretary of state wearing his mask hanging from one ear while reading a book in first class.
Fox News confirmed the authenticity of the photo with the passenger, who preferred to remain anonymous. The passenger shared a photo of his boarding pass with Fox News to confirm that he was on the flight.
The passenger said he saw the president’s climate envoy wearing his mask while at the boarding gate, but took it off shortly after boarding, in front of the other passengers.
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“I salute our Special Presidential Envoy for Climate for not flying in private, but in a first-class commercial with the rest of us ordinary people,” said the passenger. “And although he can’t follow his own party’s mask restrictions, we should give him a break.”
“Being an elite hypocrite is hard work!” the passenger added. The plane was almost full, said the passenger.
The passenger told Fox News that he did not see any of the flight attendants instructing Kerry to put the mask back on, but noted that Kerry later wore it during most of the flight.
American Airlines said on Twitter and reiterated in a statement to Fox News that the company would be “investigating” the incident and reiterated that “masks are mandatory” on its planes for everyone.
Kerry responded on Twitter saying that the mask slip was “momentary”.
“It looks like there’s some St. Patrick’s day malarkey going on Twitter,” Kerry wrote. “Let’s be clear: if I dropped my mask on one ear on a flight, it was momentary. I wear my mask because it saves lives and stops spreading. That’s what science tells us to do.”
“His mask was off for five minutes,” the passenger told Fox News in response to Kerry’s statement. “If five minutes is ‘momentary’, he is correct. Not being sure to be on a plane without a mask for five minutes is excusable.”
The CDC issued a mandate in January that went into effect early last month that states that individuals “must wear masks that cover their mouth and nose” while traveling on public transport and while in a “transport hub”.
An American Airlines spokesman later told Fox News: “Masks are required on board our aircraft. Our team works diligently to ensure that customers wear masks properly while traveling with us, and flight attendants pass through the cabin several times. during the flight to ensure compliance. The crew did not observe Secretary Kerry without a mask and was not alerted by other customers to a non-compliance issue. must wear masks while traveling. “
Kerry had an interesting relationship with air travel during his tenure as President Joe Biden’s envoy to the climate.
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Kerry has faced scrutiny over the ownership of his family’s private jet. The former secretary of state also took a private jet to receive an environmental award in Iceland in 2019, Fox News revealed in February.
Kerry defended his decision to fly as a private when asked about it in Iceland, saying: “If you offset your carbon – it is the only choice for someone like me who is traveling the world to win this battle.”
Private jets are estimated to emit 40 times more carbon emissions than a commercial flight.
Kerry’s family still owns the jet, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, which were estimated to have emitted 116 metric tons of carbon from February 2020 to January 2021.
Peter Doocy and Samuel Dorman of Fox News contributed reporting.