Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt did not file his financial disclosure form for 2018 when it was due Tuesday because he was granted an extension.
Federal employees were required by law to file their financial disclosure forms by Tuesday, but Pruitt was among 70 EPA employees who requested and were granted an extension for up to 90 days.
The EPA has 366 employees who are required to file the annual public financial disclosure form.
“EPA may grant extensions of up to 90 additional days for good cause. This year more than 70 employees have requested and been granted a filing extension. Administrator Pruitt was one of the employees who sought and was granted an extension,” Kevin Minoli, EPA’s designated agency ethics official said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said it’s common for EPA administrators to ask for extensions. Pruitt filed last year’s disclosure form on time.
“Historically, prior EPA administrators, including those in the previous administration, have also regularly sought and received extensions,” Wilcox told the Washington Examiner.
The timing of the extension for Pruitt is sure to draw scrutiny, as he is the subject of 12 federal investigations involving his spending, travel, hiring, security, and housing.
The probes are looking at Pruitt’s $50-per-night condo rental with the wife of an energy lobbyist, J. Steven Hart, who had business before the EPA, and reports of lobbyists who helped plan some of Pruitt’s foreign trips, among other issues.
Federal law prohibits public officials from accepting gifts from their subordinates that exceed $10.
Minoli said last said month he did not have all the facts when he ruled that the condo lease agreement reflected fair market value and did not violate federal gift rules.
Pruitt, from late February to early August of last year, paid $50 per night for a single bedroom in the Capitol Hill condo. He was charged only for the nights he stayed there.
Minoli said he did not evaluate Hart’s business interests, or his firm’s, when making his determination that the condo was not a gift.
Pruitt on Wednesday acknowledged that one of his top aides helped him search for housing last year, a potential violation of federal law, but said she had done so “on personal time.”
The Washington Post reported last month that Pruitt directed Millan Hupp, who serves as the EPA’s head of scheduling and advance, to help locate local apartment rentals for him last summer.
Pruitt, in testimony before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, referred to Hupp as “a longtime friend.”
He said he did not pay her for helping him find housing.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M, who asked questions about the arrangement, noted that employees of federal officials are prohibited from providing free service to their bosses.
“Then, that’s a gift, that’s a violation of federal law,” Udall said.
