Contact: trey.pollard@sierraclub.org
The scandals for “the Kato Kaelin of Capitol Hill” are going into extra innings this weekend, as Pruitt’s corrupt behavior is reaching new levels of absurdity and obscenity, earning even more embarrassing headlines for the Trump Administration, and drawing scrutiny and pressure from across the country and across the aisle.
Here’s the latest:
The AP reports that Pruitt’s exorbitant spending of taxpayer dollars on travel and security has now hit the $3 million dollar mark. Wait, what? YES, $3 MILLION. There’s a lot here, so we have to use sub-bullets:
Pruitt has claimed that security threats made it necessary for him to fly first-class on official business when taxpayers were picking up the bill. The AP reports Pruitt flew coach when he was paying for his own tickets.
Pruitt’s 20-person security detail is more than three times the size of his predecessor’s part-time detail, and has accompanied him - at taxpayer expense - on Pruitt’s personal trips, like to Disneyland, the Rose Bowl and a baseball game in Kentucky.
The massive costs skyrocketed when Pruitt reassigned his existing security chief for refusing to use sirens to help Pruitt cut through traffic, and hired Pasquale Perrotta. Perrotta arranged massive motorcades for Pruitt in Italy and is currently under scrutiny after some of the security expenses were paid out to his own company.
If arranging a sweetheart deal on a condo with a fossil fuel lobbyist with interests before his agency wasn’t ridiculous enough, Scott Pruitt didn’t pay his (cut-rate) rent on time and stuck around so long that his lobbyist landlord changed the locks on him, earning comparisons to Kato Kaelin, according to Politico. For his part, Kato was indignant at being compared to such a person as Scott Pruitt.
House Oversight Committee Chairman, Republican Trey Gowdy, is reportedly beginning a probe into Pruitt’s sweetheart condo deal with his fossil fuel lobbyist landlord. That follows Gowdy’s earlier probe into Pruitt’s exorbitant, taxpayer-funded luxury travel, for which Pruitt missed the deadline to respond. (Turns out Trump is not the only one Pruitt has been defying). Gowdy told Friends of the Earth activists on Friday “I'm not sure he's going to make it that long. It gets worse every time there’s a report in the news.”
Meanwhile, The New Republic reports the rhetoric about Pruitt’s so-called “effectiveness” doesn’t meet reality, as he’s only in the proposal stage and already facing near countless lawsuits that will stymie his attempts to pollute American communities. It turns out that Scott Pruitt’s plans are the real empty vessels. (For more, see a list of Pruitt’s losses at the bottom of the page here).
While a handful of conservative groups - almost all linked to or funded by the Koch Brothers - are attempting to support Pruitt via a fledgling hashtag, three Congressional Republicans have called for him to resign and Pruitt is facing pressure far outside of Washington, including in his home state:
Houston Chronicle: The Time Has Come for Scott Pruitt to Resign
Tulsa World: “Some of the latest accusations are embarrassing”
Concord Monitor: The End of the Line for Scott Pruitt
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Time to Drain the Pruitt Swamp
LA Times: The EPA’s Scott Pruitt Has to Go
New York Daily News: Earth to Pruitt: Just Go
The humiliating headlines and damaging scandals at the hands of Scott Pruitt are only going to continue for the Trump Administration as long as Pruitt remains in office.
Other Updates:
April 6 - The Worst Week in Washington is the Only Thing Pruitt has Won
April 6 - Questions for Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Scott Pruitt is Under Siege
April 5, Questions for Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Pruitt's Situation Goes from Bad to Unsustainable
April 4, Sanders Refuses to Say Trump Has Confidence in Pruitt
April 4, Scandal Ridden Scott Pruitt Lies on Fox News
April 3, Questions for Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Pruitt is Flailing Edition
April 2, What They Are Saying on Pruitt’s Condogate: “Grifter,” “Unravelling,” “Criminal”
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