Posted on 04/04/2018 2:05:10 AM PDT by lowbuck
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt defended his living arrangement in Washington during the presidential transition, noting that career ethics officials at the EPA found no problems with his choice of where to sleep.
“This was an Airbnb-type situation where I rented literally one room that was used in a temporary status until I found more permanent residence.” @EPAScottPruitt says.
Media reports, Pruitt told The Daily Signal during an interview Tuesday, are incomplete and don’t reflect “the truth.”
“I think the information has been, as things go, I think very intermittent and very sporadic and not terribly complete with respect to what the truth is,” Pruitt said in the interview.
Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. But this can't be done alone. Find out more >>
As Pruitt on Monday announced a rollback of Obama administration emission rules for vehicles in model years 2022 to 2025, multiple media reports focused on the EPA chief’s renting of a bedroom on Capitol Hill.
Pruitt paid $50 a night to the wife of J. Steven Hart, chairman and CEO of the Washington law firm of Williams & Jensen, whose clients include energy companies. He paid Vicki Hart only for the nights he slept in the room at the condo, according to news reports and critics.
“We had a memo and a statement from career ethics officials here that have actually reviewed the lease, that actually reviewed comps—comparables of similar units,” Pruitt, the former attorney general of Oklahoma, told The Daily Signal.
“And I think what’s missed in this: I didn’t rent a unit,” Pruitt said. “I didn’t rent an apartment. This was an Airbnb-type situation where I rented literally one room that was used in a temporary status, until I found more permanent residence.”
This was during his early days in Washington after the president nominated him as EPA administrator, he said.
“My wife wasn’t here yet. My children were back in Oklahoma,” Pruitt said. “The needs were different. As soon as my wife came up, we moved to a different location where I couldn’t just be living out of a suitcase.”
In a March 30 memo, Kevin S. Minoli, the designated agency ethics official, to EPA General Counsel Matthew Z. Leopold, stated:
The regulations issued by the Office of Government Ethics are clear that if a federal employee pays market value for something, it is by definition not a gift under those regulations. … Under the terms of the lease, if the space was utilized for one 30-day month, then the rental cost would be $1,500, which is a reasonable market value.
The lease authorized use by the Administrator and his immediate family, specifically including his spouse and children, and consistent with that provision of the lease his immediate family did stay there when they were in Washington, D.C. The lease did not require payment when the property was not utilized.
Neither of these two provisions render the rental cost under the lease as something other than market value. Therefore, entering into the lease was consistent with federal ethics regulations regarding gifts, and use of property in accordance with the lease agreement did not constitute a gift as defined in those regulations.
But in a letter Tuesday, two House Democrats, Reps. Ted Lieu of California and Don Beyer of Virginia, urged EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr. to investigate the matter.
The lawmakers contend Pruitt didn’t pay a fair market rate because he paid only for the days he stayed in the space:
Administrator Pruitt didn’t pay $1,500 a month. He paid far less because the unusual lease allowed him to have the condo on demand but he only had to pay for the days he stayed at the condo. Over a period of six months, Administrator Pruitt paid only a total of $6,100 for the furnished condo. This is far below market value and, as such, would constitute an impermissible gift under federal regulations.
Asked about Pruitt on Tuesday, President Donald Trump told reporters: “I hope he’s going to be great.”
Trump reportedly called Pruitt on Monday and told him: “Keep your head up. Keep fighting. We got your back.”
Pruitt also pushed back against reports that he rented space from an energy lobbyist.
“The other thing I would say is that the owner of the residence—people, I’ve heard, say that he’s an energy lobbyist,” Pruitt told The Daily Signal.
Speaking of Hart, Pruitt said: “He’s the chairman of a law firm. I’ve know this gentleman for years. He’s an Oklahoman, and his firm represents these [energy industry] clients, not him. There has been no connection whatsoever in that regard.”
Trump reportedly spoke Monday to Pruitt, according to media reports Tuesday. White House chief of staff John Kelly also spoke with the EPA administrator.
Pruitt declined to comment on media speculation regarding his future at the EPA.
The left is out for blood as Mr. Pruitt continues to return the EPA to reality. His latest move to undo Obama's CAFE standards must not stand!!
Expect howls and dirt, but, know the full story so you can counter the liberals in your life.
Of course they do not tell the entire story. The liberal media is evil. I do not believe a single word from them.
JoMa
This is about 50 bucks a day. It’s up to the BnB whether to rent it to somebody else on the unbooked days. Absent some deal not to do so — why does anyone care. My these illiberal liberals!
Still it could look odd (to be devil’s advocate). Pruitt would be wise to take a Mike Pence level of caution about probity, and rent from someone else not plausibly involved with EPA business. Till the whole EPA gets returned to the states. It is a green monster.
Perhaps he should wear a neck brace for a few days; worked wonders for the “Lion of the Senate” after he ditched a girl in the dark waters who was still alive while he spent hours with aides saving his political career.
That was a weird episode. Like he had a force field around him.
A typical libtard would have rented a suite in a 5 star hotel........
Yeah
The guy is not loaded! He had to economize.
If other BnB on-demand deals look like this, then at worst it’s optics. Greater probity couldn’t hurt but it was technically fine like this.
The left is out for blood as Mr. Pruitt continues to return the EPA to reality.
**********************************************
This is exactly what is going on. They’re doing their best to get rid of Pruitt as he dismantles the Leftist enemy camp that is the EPA. Pruitt is exactly who the EPA needs - if this attack doesn’t work, the Left will be coming up with something else.
I haven’t followed this but it stands to reason the left is out for his blood because he is good. They need to keep him.
no-one in President Trump’s Cabinet has been more effective than Scott Pruitt. he is systematically dismantling the architecture of the phony manmade global warming hundred-trillion-dollar scam. (that is how much allegedly needed to stop the temperature rising beyond their arbitrary figures).
in this one, the Atlantic’s global warming gate-keeper, Robinson Meyer, participates in another grossly exaggerated smear, which turns into another nothingburger when you get to the final paragraphs. no need to read any of the rest:
3 Apr: The Atlantic: Scott Pruitt Bypassed the White House to Give Big Raises to Favorite Aides
by Elaina Plott and Robinson Meyer
It’s not as though Pruitt is the first EPA administrator to lean on the Safe Drinking Water Act hiring authority. EPA veterans of both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations said they were well-acquainted with the provision...
“I can’t imagine that being done in the regime in which I served,” said Stan Meiburg, a former acting deputy administrator of the EPA in the Obama administration. “It would have been very controversial. The accusation that would have been pinned on the administrator was that they were trying to give a private benefit using public funds.”
Meiburg, who spent his career at the EPA after joining as career staff in 1977, said that “ADs”—the internal shorthand for “administratively determined” hires—were considered a precious commodity inside the agency.
“The number of ADs were monitored very closely by the chief of staff,” he said. “To get one was a big deal. To get one was not an easy task.”...
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/04/pruitt-epa/557123/
let Scott Pruitt know we also have his back.
The translation here is that Scott Pruitt brought in two female staffers to the EPA that he has worked with in Oklahoma and gave them very nice raises. These two staffers get stuff done for him. Useless EPA slugs who have been employed there for years are jealous of these newbies salaries.
SCOTT PRUITT would get nothing done if he had to depend on the EPAs permanent bureaucracy of liberals.
The Environmental Lobby will do everything hey can to stop Pruitt. I hope Trump stands behind him as he continues to undo all the Obama Regulations.
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