Louise Linton, the wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, apologized for her Instagram post — and her reaction to comments on the photo — on Tuesday.
Linton, a Scottish-born actress, married Mnuchin in June. This past week she traveled with him to Louisville, Kentucky, where Mnuchin appeared with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at an event. The event was supposed to promote the GOP’s plan to revamp the U.S. tax code, reports The Wall Street Journal.
On her Instagram account, Linton posted a photo of herself and Mnuchin leaving the plane and highlighted her designer-label wardrobe. She later railed at a commenter who criticized the post.
Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin’s wife Louise Linton has deleted this Instagram, which contained tagged designers and some interesting comments pic.twitter.com/MvPhPJtRze
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) August 22, 2017
The photograph included hashtags for pieces of Linton’s outfit, like #hermesscarf, #tomford and #valentino.
Another Instagram user commented about taxpayers footing the bill for the trip, and Linton shot back, “Have you given more to the economy than me and my husband? Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self-sacrifice to your country?”
She added:
“I’m pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day ‘trip’ than you did,” and said the woman was “adorably out of touch,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
“I apologize for my post on social media yesterday as well as my response. It was inappropriate and highly insensitive,” Linton said in a statement from her publicist.
Linton deleted the photos and set her account to private not long after the original post.
A Treasury spokesperson said Tuesday that Linton pays her own way when she joins her husband on official business. She also said that Linton does not receive compensation from the brands she mentioned in the post, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Linton regularly accompanies her husband to official events, and even joined him on his first foreign visit as secretary to Canada this year. A Treasury spokeswoman said that the couple always reimburses the government for Linton’s travel but said she is unsure how many trips she has taken or how much they have reimbursed the government so far. Spouses of cabinet secretaries typically don’t accompany them on government trips, writes the Wall Street Journal.
Mnuchin has previously come under criticism as well. Earlier this year he encouraged an audience at a public interview to “send your kids to ‘Lego Batman,’” the film on which he served as an executive producer, writes Wall Street Journal. After this, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to the Office of Government Ethics asking whether or not the comment violated ethics rules. Mnuchin later apologized, reports Wall Street Journal, and promised to “exercise greater caution.”
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