Grilled by U.S. lawmakers, Trump's EPA
chief calls ethics scandals lies
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[April 27, 2018]
By Valerie Volcovici and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt on Thursday rejected a litany of
ethics complaints against him as lies intended to derail President
Donald Trump's agenda, and put much of the blame for any agency missteps
on his staff.
During two tense congressional hearings, Pruitt faced tough questions
from Democrats and even some fellow Republicans in marathon high-stakes
testimony as he seeks to avoid becoming the latest in a long list of
Cabinet members and senior White House officials to have either been
fired by Trump or quit.
"Facts are facts and fiction is fiction," the embattled agency chief
told a House of Representatives panel. "And a lie doesn't become true
just because it appears in the front page of the newspaper."
"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 testified.
The hearings were scheduled to discuss the EPA budget, but mainly
focused on Pruitt's performance.
Trump's inner circle has become frustrated by the torrent of news
reports about Pruitt including his costly first-class air travel and
around-the-clock security, pay raises given to aides and his rental of a
room in a high-end Washington condo linked to an energy lobbyist.
Pruitt remained even-tempered and unapologetic throughout more than five
hours of testimony, often avoiding being pinned down on specifics or
deflecting responsibility for clear missteps onto his staff - a strategy
that drew mixed reviews.
It remains to be seen how Trump will view his performance.
"It's never good to blame your staff. If you do it, do it behind closed
doors," said Republican Representative John Shimkus of Illinois after
the first hearing.
Democrats were more blunt. "You are unfit to hold public office,"
Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey told Pruitt.
Democratic Representative Paul Tonko of New York ripped Pruitt for his
"seemingly endless misconduct" and "what appears to be a propensity for
grift." Democrats also castigated Pruitt for rolling back environmental
regulations the Trump administration has said hinder economic growth.
There are nearly a dozen pending investigations of Pruitt's conduct
covering a range of allegations. The Government Accountability Office
completed one this month that said the EPA violated two laws by
installing a $43,000 soundproof phone booth for his office without
telling lawmakers first.
Pruitt testified he requested the secure line, but said his staff never
told him the cost and that he would not have made the expenditure had he
known.
Pruitt has been among Trump's most controversial Cabinet members. He has
drawn praise from conservatives and scorn from environmentalists for
rolling back Democratic former President Barack Obama's policy to curb
greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other green regulations
opposed by industry.
The tumult in the Trump administration was underscored on Thursday when
the president's physician Ronny Jackson withdrew from consideration to
head the Department of Veterans Affairs amid allegations of misconduct.
'INNUENDO AND MCCARTHYISM'
Some 170 Democratic lawmakers have demanded Pruitt's resignation. Five
Republican lawmakers joined the call in recent days. But several
Republicans expressed support for Pruitt at the hearings, praising his
EPA accomplishments.
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EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies before the House
Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and
Related Agencies Subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S.,
April 26, 2018. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
Representative David McKinley of West Virginia called the criticism
of Pruitt a "classic display of innuendo and McCarthyism," a
reference to a 1950s-era campaign to root out communists.
Fellow Republican Gregg Harper of Mississippi decried the "political
bloodsport" of going after Trump administration officials. But
Harper, like several Democrats, raised concerns about reports that
whistleblowers who brought some of Pruitt's spending issues to light
were removed or reassigned.
"There's no truth to the assertion that positions have been
reassigned. I'm not aware of that ever happening," Pruitt said.
Republicans Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania and Leonard Lance of New
Jersey quizzed Pruitt on EPA spending for his first-class flights -
estimated to have cost taxpayers more than $100,000 - and security
team.
"I've reviewed your answers and find some of them have been lacking
or insufficient," Costello said.
Pruitt said he recently decided to stop flying first-class despite
the EPA previously saying it was a necessary measure to protect him
from the public. And he justified his 24-hour security team by
reciting some of the personal threats he has received. He said the
EPA inspector general's office has documented the threats and deemed
them "unprecedented."
Pruitt also deflected a flurry of questions about his role in
granting big raises to two of his aides - one of them amounting to
more than 50 percent - over objections from the White House. Pruitt
said he had given his chief of staff authority hand out salary
increases without White House approval under an obscure provision of
a clean water regulation, but was unaware of any of the other
specifics.
Regarding his $50-per-night condo lease from an energy lobbyist's
wife, Pruitt said the arrangement received ethics approval and noted
that the EPA inspector general's office had found it to be roughly
market rate.
The EPA's inspector general's office has since said its review was
based on incomplete information, and did not address the question of
whether the lease broke other federal ethics regulations.
During the second hearing, Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur raised
Pruitt's first-class 2017 travels to Italy and Morocco, and
questioned why he declined an invitation to visit Ohio to discuss
pollution in Lake Erie.
"Do you know how much a flight to Toledo costs?" Kaptur asked.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Richard Cowan; Additional
reporting by Steve Holland and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Will
Dunham and Diane Craft)
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