Travel company raised red flag about legality of Sean Duffy's reality show pitch: report

A travel company declined to sponsor Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's family road trip after determining that sponsoring the venture amounted to buying access to a sitting cabinet secretary — raising fresh ethical concerns about the "reality-TV-tinged" odyssey.

According to POLITICO, at least one would-be sponsor balked at the ethical implications of appearing to purchase access to President Trump's transportation secretary. The company declined after being approached by Great American Road Trip Inc., the Delaware-registered nonprofit that has funded the Duffy family's gas, car rentals, lodging, and activities during eight months of on-and-off filming.

A person directly involved in the sponsorship outreach said the company's reasoning was straightforward: "You're paying for access through Tori's group. This is a little too cute," the person said, referencing nonprofit director Tori Barnes, a former transportation lobbyist, Politico is reporting.

Barnes, a former lobbyist for the U.S. Travel Association and General Motors, rejected the characterization on Friday, calling it "a lie." She claimed that sponsorship was not a prerequisite for meeting Duffy during his trek.

However, the company's hesitation reflects broader ethical concerns already raised by government watchdog groups and Democratic lawmakers about the journey — particularly the role of the nonprofit headed by a former transportation industry lobbyist seeking corporate sponsorships, according to Politico's Chris Marquette and Sam Ogozalek.

The "Great American Road Trip" stars Duffy and his wife Rachel Campos-Duffy, a "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host and former cast member of the 1990s reality series "The Real World." The couple is promoting a five-part YouTube series set to debut in June.

The Duffys have nine children, some of whom participated in the road trip, according to the Department of Transportation.

According to the report, the sponsorship rejection represents the first publicly reported instance of corporate hesitation about the project, suggesting that even Trump-aligned businesses have concerns about the appearance of buying access to federal officials.