“We’ve taken many, many trips in cars — sometimes four and five hours at a time,” he told the network.

According to the senior administration official, Mr. Trump is less perturbed by the actions of two other cabinet members who have fallen under recent scrutiny for their spending: Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Mr. Pruitt recently took the unusual step of installing a $25,000 soundproof booth in his office to conduct secure communications, and Mr. Mnuchin inquired about using a military plane for his honeymoon in Europe last month. He also took a government plane on a trip that included a viewing of the solar eclipse on Aug. 21 in Kentucky. That trip fell under scrutiny when Mr. Mnuchin’s wife, Louise Linton, took a stranger to task on Instagram for criticizing the couple’s luxurious lifestyle.

The president has publicly defended Mr. Mnuchin, whose trips came under an official review after the trip to Kentucky. Responding to an ABC News report that Mr. Mnuchin had taken a $25,000 trip to Washington from New York, accompanied by Elaine Chao, the secretary of transportation, the president told reporters to check their facts.

“Why don’t you check your records before you make a statement,” Mr. Trump said to reporters on Sunday. “As I understood it — I don’t know much about it — I haven’t heard about it, but I understand he never took that flight.”

On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the travel of Mr. Trump’s senior administration members. The investigation, opened by Representatives Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, the committee’s chairman, and Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the panel’s ranking Democrat, will examine the use of private and government travel by senior officials, and will request passenger names, destinations and the source of payment for each trip, among other details. The committee is requesting all related documents by Oct. 10.