President Trump called Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Monday and told the embattled Cabinet secretary “we got your back.”
Trump’s phone call to Pruitt comes as the EPA administrator has faced unflattering headlines related to his travel on first class flights, his living arrangement, and use of his EPA-funded security detail.
An administration official told reporters Trump told Pruitt, “Keep your head up. Keep fighting. We got your back.”
White House chief of staff John Kelly then called Pruitt on Tuesday morning and echoed Trump’s words.
Pruitt has been under scrutiny for his multiple first-class and military flights, and it was revealed last week he rented a condo on Capitol Hill from the wife of an energy lobbyist during his first year in Washington.
Pruitt paid $50 per night for one bedroom in the condo and paid only for the nights he slept there. Over a six-month span, the EPA administrator paid $6,100 for the room, according to reports.
The EPA’s ethics counsel said the arrangement didn’t violate ethics rules since Pruitt paid rent.
Pruitt’s security detail busted down the door of the condo in March 2017 after believing the Cabinet secretary was unconscious and unresponsive inside. The EPA reimbursed the condo’s owner $2,460 for the damage.
The EPA administrator is now facing questions about his use of his EPA-funded security detail. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., sent a letter to the EPA inspector general asking about Pruitt’s use of the detail for personal trips, including to his home in Tulsa, Okla., to Disneyland and the Rose Bowl.
