After the EPA refused to comply with a FOIA request, the Sierra Club took them to court; the result is a more than 10,000 page archive of documents having to do with Scott Pruitt’s activities since he took over as Donald Trump’s EPA Administrator. It has scheduling information for the days that were blank on Pruitt’s public calendar, and details on who he met with in his cone-of-silence equipped office. And those documents are producing revelation after revelation showing that, incredibly, Scott Pruitt is even worse than anyone believed.
In addition, Buzzfeed freed up another cache of documents showing that Pruitt’s famously “unprecedented” security concerns amounted to a grand total of three threats — one of which consisted, in its entirety, of someone drawing a mustache on Pruitt’s picture. And even Democratic senators have raised the issue that everything they’ve been able to discover provides no excuse for Pruitt’s extravagant actions and lavish spending.
What the documents have mostly demonstrated is an incredible effort to hide what Pruitt is doing and provide excuses for his over-the-top behavior.
Time and again, the files show, decisions turn on limiting advance public knowledge of Mr. Pruitt’s appearances in order to control the message. The emails, many of which are communications with Mr. Pruitt’s schedulers, show an agency that divides people into “friendly and “unfriendly” camps and that, on one occasion — involving a secret visit to a Toyota plant last year — became so focused on not disclosing information that Mr. Pruitt’s corporate hosts expressed confusion about the trip.
With the evidence rolling out and Pruitt’s secrets being revealed, it’s getting harder and harder for anyone to defend his actions.
Over the past few months, as Mr. Pruitt’s problems have mounted — he is now the subject of at least 11 federal investigations and some Republicans have called for his resignation — Mr. Trump has continued to support his E.P.A. chief on Twitter and in public and private remarks.
But even for Trump, Pruitt is becoming a deadweight that he may no longer be able to carry.
Republicans have justified Pruitt’s continued presence by pointing to his readiness to roll over regulations that protect the environment in favor of corporate interests. But most of what Pruitt’s doing that generates headlines isn’t related to his actions on the environment—awful as those have been. After all, Rick Perry is just as incompetent, just as ill-suited to his job at the Department of Energy, and just as eager to toady to Trump, but how many headlines is Perry producing?
The problem with Scott Pruitt … is Scott Pruitt.
Over the past few months, as Mr. Pruitt’s problems have mounted — he is now the subject of at least 11 federal investigations and some Republicans have called for his resignation — Mr. Trump has continued to support his E.P.A. chief on Twitter and in public and private remarks.
A Scott Pruitt review
- Created new regulations requiring that studies related to human health violate individual privacy in order to be used by the EPA. Pruitt put forward this idea on a claim of “transparency,” but he announced the plan at a meeting closed to public and press, and knowingly structured the rules to eliminate most of the key studies that have formed public policy over the last four decades.
- Tried to line up lobbyists who were interested in sending him to spots he wants to visit around the world, whether or not he had any EPA related reason for going.
- Delivered a multi-million dollar gift to Trump contributor and associate Carl Icahn, by giving Icahn’s oil refinery a waiver allowing it to operate without fully meeting EPA requirements.
- Lied to Congress about CAFE standards paving the way for freezing or rolling back requirements that would save drivers billions and protect everyone’s health.
- Lied to Congress about firing people who pointed out his excess spending, and followed it up by forging a resignation letter to cover up the firing.
- Lied to Congress about his security concerns, including repeatedly stating that he had a letter from the Inspector General showing the high level of threats he had received, when actually what he was waving around was an internal memo that showed nothing of the kind.
- Told corporations that he was there for them, and that they could literally have their cake and eat it too by altering regulations so that they could charge more, clean up less, and be better protected from environmental concerns.
- Is currently the subject of at least ten federal ethics investigations.
- Took multiple trips at the request of fossil fuel lobbyists that had nothing to do with the EPA’s mission or goals.
- Deliberately hid EPA data on climate change, and is still hiding it.
- Has a history of wasting taxpayer money that goes back to his job as Attorney General of Oklahoma.
- Was called “unfit to lead the EPA” because of his ethical issues by the leader of George Bush’s EPA.
- Has purged scientists from the EPA’s science advisory boards and replaced them with industry lobbyists.
- Got a bargain townhouse form fossil fuels lobbyists, lied about it, lied about being cleared to live there, and then lied more about it. To Congress.
And all of that is just scratching the surface on Pruitt. See this article by Sher Watts Spooner for even more.