The New York Times has the classic story of corrupt EPA chief Scott Pruitt meeting with a climate change-denying Catholic cardinal. Sadly, this is nothing surprising, coming from an administration that is more swamp than human. What is slightly surprising—but also probably not really—is that the cardinal in question, senior Australian Catholic cleric George Pell, has had an open investigation going since 2016 into allegations that he molested and raped numerous children over the last four decades. According to the Times, Pruitt dined last year in Rome with Cardinal Pell, and later his EPA intentionally released reporting on that dinner omitting Pell’s name or presence.
Kevin Chmielewski, Mr. Pruitt’s former deputy chief of staff for operations, said in an interview that top political appointees at the agency feared that the meeting would reflect poorly on Mr. Pruitt if it were made public. Twenty days after the dinner, authorities in Australia charged Cardinal Pell with sexual assault; he has denied the charges.
“It was a no-brainer,” Mr. Chmielewski said of the decision to keep Cardinal Pell’s participation quiet. His account was confirmed by two people who were familiar with the handling of the trip, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern over retribution.
Pell had been under investigation since 2016, with reports of survivors of Pell’s alleged activities speaking out to news agencies. Pruitt has been pretty transparent about his cover-story to the world that he’s super God-fearing, which is supposed to explain why he’s trying to set the world on fire. I say cover-story because there isn’t a God damned thing in any of the books he allegedly believes in that supports any of his plentiful corruptions. Everyone at the EPA is passing the buck on this one, and the buck has stopped at the door of the Federalist Society.
The emails also show that much of Mr. Pruitt’s time in Rome was spent attending events recommended or arranged by Leonard A. Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, a conservative organization that promotes limits on federal regulations. The May emails suggest that Mr. Leo was involved in planning for a dinner.
Mr. Leo did not respond to a request for comment.
Of course he didn’t.