White House frustrated with EPA's Pruitt for apartment controversy

[riversedge]

Source: CNN


By Dan Merica, Pamela Brown, Jim Acosta and Rene Marsh, CNN

Updated 8:44 PM ET, Fri March 30, 2018
Sources: White House frustrated with Pruitt



Washington (CNN)Senior White House aides are exasperated with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, the already embattled Cabinet secretary who now finds himself at the center of an expanding controversy over his decision to rent a room in Washington, DC, from the family of an energy lobbyist.

The White House has yet to officially comment on Pruitt's standing, but a government official tells CNN that the lack of responsiveness shows they are not ready to step in and defend Pruitt, who they believe has created a series of headaches for an administration looking to move past controversies involving Cabinet secretaries.

A White House official said the source of the frustration stems from the fact that White House officials began learning about this issue from media reports, not Pruitt himself, an issue that officials have complained about in the past over controversies involving Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and recently-fired Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.

Pruitt rented a room in a condo from Vicki and Steven Hart, lobbyists whose firm has lobbied the EPA on behalf of an Oklahoma Energy company, ABC News and Bloomberg reported. According to Bloomberg, Pruitt leased a room for around $50 a night, only paying when he stayed there. In total, Pruitt paid $6,100 for the room over six months, a rate significantly lower than market value.

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Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/30/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-white-house/index.html

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All in=reporting his daughter stayed free last summer!!




Eric Lipton
?Verified account @EricLiptonNYT
1h1 hour ago

Here Pruitt is meeting with a lobbyist from Williams & Jensen, at the same time as he is living in condo for $50 a night owned by spouse of chairman of the firm, to discuss matters related to Oklahoma Gas & Electric, a lobbying client of Williams & Jensen.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Eric Lipton ?Verified account @EricLiptonNYT
1h1 hour ago

So the lobbying firm is meeting with him by day--pressing him for some kind of official action or at least consideration of their agenda--and then the spouse of the firm chairman is giving him what clearly looks like a below market rent by night.
5 replies 55 retweets 96 likes




Eric Lipton Verified account @EricLiptonNYT
1h1 hour ago

But the ties between J. Steven Hart, the chairman of William & Jensen go back a while. Here is a fund raising event from 2014, when Pruitt was Oklahoma Attorney General, that Hart organized for Pruitt. So they have financial ties dating back a while.

Link to tweet

[George II]

1. Don't get "frustrated", FIRE the "son of a bitch"!!!!

[joshdawg]

8. Don't just fire him,

lock his corrupt ass up and throw away the key. Same goes for his rotten boss.

[msongs]

2. $50/night sounds cheap for the DC area nt

[nitpicker]

6. Actually,6K over six months

In the central DC area, it would be tough to find a studio to rent for that price, especially when adding on utilities.

[TygrBright]

3. Grifters Gonna Grift... n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. He's gonna go next...

March 12..like 2 weeks ago...

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt all met with officials from the White House counsel's office and the Cabinet liaison.

sez CNN then.

and since then, everyone of the above has had problems of greed and swagger.

I really want Pruitt gone.

[SergeStorms]

5. Another one of Trump's "best people"....

on the chopping block? Say it isn't so! The "best people" certainly are difficult to keep an eye on, aren't they?

Instead of all the "best people", maybe Trump should try hiring qualified people this time, and see how that works out?

[Trust Buster]

7. He will not be let go because he is as cruel as his creep of a boss.

It is likely he will be tapped to replace Sessions. He will be asked to do the dirty work.

[riversedge]

14. I think sessions is doing a great job for Trump (I do not agree with his polies) and wonder

if Trump will get rid of him.???

[modrepub]

9. Would Be Surprised

Pruitt doing "great work" dismantling regulations and keeping the compliance arm of EPA disengaged (someone should check on how many cases it has prosecuted/fined since Trump took over). The only way Pruitt is leaving IMO is when the OK Senate seat opens up.

[duforsure]

10. It would be easier, and real news

To report who was actually not a crook, and corrupted in this administration. There's so many of them its amazing anyone could corrupt a government so well as trump has done. It all comes from who's at the top and responsible for these people being in their positions they're in to do these illegal acts on a daily basis. Corruption running wild from this administration, and the White House. The GOP in Congress doing nothing.

[Angry Dragon]

11. Dirty, Dirty man

So it appears that having a 10-figure bank account isn't a prerequisite for serving in the Trump Administration; rather, you have to be really hell-bent on dismantling everything that President Obama built. And Pruitt stands out there, too: while serving as Oklahoma Attorney General, he dismantled the state's Environmental Protection Unit. He also sued the EPA an astonishing 13 times since 2011, according to The Huffington Post. Trump repeatedly threatened to dismantle the EPA during his campaign, so it should come as no surprise that he'd pick someone who appears to agree with him.

Pruitt has also co-authored an op-ed claiming that the "debate" on climate change "is far from settled. He also once famously had his staff copy a letter sent by an oil and gas company onto official state government stationery and pass it off as his own words to the EPA, according to the The New York Times. It remains to be seen exactly what he plans to do with his new agency, but at least he'll earn a few more bucks.

[Toorich]

12. Whoa now, just hold your horses .....

if he gets fired he'll come back to Oklahoma. We don't want him back. When he left for D.C., the IQ average here increased by several points.

[paleotn]

13. Appoint incompetent hacks....

you get incompetence and assorted other stupid shit. What the hell did they expect? Since the White House is grossly incompetent from top to bottom they figured everything would be hunky dory no matter who they appointed. Once again, this admin proves it's just as dumb as the morons who voted for the orange baboon.

[Sampan]

15. White House frustrated with.......

is code for “you’re next”