Duffy Defends Moving Wife's Flight From Newark To Another Airport

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday defended his recent decision to move his wife from a flight that was to take off from troubled Newark Liberty International Airport to one departing from New York's LaGuardia Airport — saying he did it to ensure she could make an event, not because of concerns about safety.

Duffy was testifying before a House Appropriations Committee about the Transportation Department's budget request for fiscal 2026 when Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) suggested that Duffy "diverted your wife from Newark airport to LaGuardia out of a sense of security."

“That’s not true,” Duffy said, then said: “It’s partially true."

“With all the delays at Newark — my wife had to do an event and she was in the city of New York, and so I did — I moved her from Newark to LaGuardia not for safety but because I needed her flight to fly. She had to get there," Duffy said.

Duffy first relayed the anecdote earlier this week on a SiriusXM show, hosted by conservative David Webb. Duffy argued that his remarks on the show, snippets of which have surfaced on social media, were clipped and taken out of context.

“I accept that. Thank you,” Watson Coleman responded.

Duffy has sought to reassure travelers that despite sporadic and alarming air traffic control radar and radio outages at Newark, flights to and from the airport are safe.

The Federal Aviation Administration is considering reducing flights at the airport, which has one runway closed for long-planned rehab work. In addition, the agency is working to replace aging copper wire in the area that may be the culprit of the sporadic outages, as well as standing up backup systems at Newark.