Susan Jaffe | Washington Correspondent for The Lancet | 8th May 2018
At last count, at least four federal agencies were conducting nearly a dozen investigations of Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, probing his office renovations, a round-the-clock security unit who accompanied him on a trip to Disneyland, personnel management, and first-class air travel. The Capitol Hill condo he rented at a bargain rate of only $50 a night from the wife of an energy industry lobbyist has also come under scrutiny.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies at a congressional hearing April 26, 2018 (Getty Images).
But in separate hearings held by the congressional subcommittees that oversee EPA, Pruitt dismissed the investigations as politically motivated.
“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,” Pruitt told the congressional panels two weeks ago. “I am simply not going to let that happen.”
…Republicans were eager to praise his achievements during the hearings, and encouraged him to keep at it. [Continued here]