Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday slammed Vice President Mike Pence for walking out of an Indianapolis Colts football game, calling it “a multi million dollar political stunt paid for by taxpayers.”
“Don’t let these guys tell you they are fiscal conservatives. This was a multi million dollar political stunt paid for by taxpayers,” Murphy tweeted.
His comment came in response to Pence’s announcement that the vice president had left the Colts game early in protest against football players who were kneeling during the national anthem.
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Murphy’s comment on Twitter was posted along with a retweet of a post by journalist Sung Min Kim, which showed a side-by-side comparison of two seemingly identical photos of Pence and his wife at a Colts game.
Pence had posted one of the photos to his Twitter account earlier on Sunday before walking out of the game. But people online quickly pointed out that he had posted what appeared to be virtually the exact same photo years earlier.
The observation further fueled speculation that Pence’s decision to leave the game on Sunday was an elaborately staged political stunt.
Government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) took to Twitter on Sunday to blast Pence’s walkout.
“CAN WE JUST MAKE IT THROUGH A WEEKEND WITHOUT THIS ADMINISTRATION ABUSING TAXPAYER DOLLARS WITH JET TRAVEL!?” the organization tweeted.
CREW’s tweet comes as several Trump administration officials find themselves facing scrutiny over their government travel.
Murphy has become one of the most vocal critics of the GOP on Capitol Hill. Following the massacre at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas last week, he called on Congress to “get off its ass and do something” on gun control.