The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general has opened another investigation into the behavior of Administrator Scott Pruitt, this one looking into his use of security detail on personal trips to Disneyland, the Rose Bowl and college basketball games.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D, R.I., announced Thursday that the inspector general agreed to his request to review Pruitt’s use of EPA security on personal travel.
“We have determined that the issues raised in your letter are within the authority of the OIG to review, and we will do so,” Inspector General Arthur Elkins said in a letter to Whitehouse. “We will conduct the requested engagement separate from our audits of the administrator’s travel and security detail, so as to not delay the completion of our ongoing work in those areas. Elements of your request may be within the scope of our ongoing audits.”
The inspector general’s office is already investigating Pruitt for his frequent first-class travel and trips to his home state of Oklahoma.
That inquiry has been expanded to incorporate a four-day trip Pruitt took to Morocco in December to promote U.S. natural gas exports.
It also is investigating his spending on security.
Pruitt spent more than $105,000 in first-class travel in his first year, which he says he needs to stay protected from security threats.
The EPA has spent about $3 million on Pruitt’s round-the-clock security detail, including travel and overtime pay.
With the latest investigation, the New York Times has counted 10 ongoing federal investigations of Pruitt, some of them focused on a $50-per-night lease agreement he signed with the wife of an energy lobbyist.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., on Friday demanded interviews with five top aides to Pruitt, escalating an investigation his committee is conducting over Pruitt’s spending and ethics.
The Government Accountability Office determined this week that the EPA broke federal law by spending $43,000 on a secure phone booth for Pruitt’s office without notifying Congress.
Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said Wednesday he is investigating the phone booth purchase.
