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Pruitt arrives for House hearing on spending, ethics

April 26, 2018 22:15·

Trump's EPA chief may face tough questions on Capitol Hill

On Thursday, Scott Pruitt opened up his testimony with the House Energy and Commerce Environment Subcommittee by saying he has been misrepresented by the reports about his ethically-questionable actions over the last few months.

At a congressional hearing Thursday morning, Mr. Pruitt said that he recognized that there had been "very troubling reports" on his travel, housing and personnel practices but that much of what had been reported was twisted.

"I don't mean to be too harsh, but you can't just go around acting like a big shot, and you can't go around. disrespecting taxpayer dollars", Kennedy said. "I asked you if you're going to reimburse the taxpayers for the overage. what are you going to do about it?" Installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth at Pruitt's EPA office.

Those questions include Pruitt's use of shell companies in Oklahoma real estate deals and spending taxpayer money for such personal perks as first-class airline seats.

"I've reviewed your answers and find some of them have been lacking or insufficient", Costello said. "New information continues to come out about behavior at the EPA", says Jerry Taylor, president of the libertarian Niskanen Center. Pruitt's chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, later took responsibility for the substantial raises and backed up the administrator's statement (Greenwire, April 10).

The White House said Wednesday it's evaluating the concerns.

Republican Gregg Harper of MS decried what he saw as the "political bloodsport" of going after Trump administration officials.

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Pruitt is one of President Donald Trump's most controversial appointments and has done what he said he would when Trump named him to oversee the country's environmental regulations - dismantle numerous restrictive policies on the environmental practices of businesses imposed by the administration of former President Barack Obama.

"They either know something nobody else does or they're that naive", one official said.

Pruitt and his staff have blamed the White House, in part, for several of the leaks of damaging information about him. At the daily White House briefing, a reporter asked spokeswoman Sarah Sanders why Pruitt still had a job in an administration that promised to "drain the swamp". "Those who attack the EPA and attack me are doing so because they want to attack and derail the president's agenda and undermine this administration's priorities".

While Pruitt turned down assistance from White House staff to prep for his hearings, he did reach out to a fellow Republican from Oklahoma for advice.

One Republican with longtime ties to Pruitt, Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), has warned Pruitt that he faces a bruising inquisition.

As the Democratic drumbeat intensifies for his ouster, Pruitt headed to Capitol Hill for two separate House committee hearings Thursday where he's facing scrutiny for a litany of ethical and spending missteps of which he's been accused. "They're just that, they're allegations, and I think we need to hear what he has to say, and I think there will be good explanations". The high costs of protecting Pruitt were due mainly to the unprecedented level and volume of threats against him, they said. Yesterday, EPA union members joined members of Congress and environmental and public health groups outside EPA's Washington, D.C., headquarters to call for the president to fire Pruitt. (D-N.J.) followed up by asking Pruitt whether he had sidelined or demoted at least five employees who disagreed with him, demanding a "yes or no" answer as to whether he had called for these changes. Cole, who sits on the Appropriations panel, said he told him that session would "be pretty rough".

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