Sen. Jim Inhofe, a big supporter of Scott Pruitt, defended the Environmental Protection Agency administrator Wednesday, blaming everyone from the media to billionaire Trump opponent Tom Steyer for ginning up a fervor over the EPA chief’s ethical missteps that are under multiple investigations.
The Oklahoma Republican met Pruitt at an undisclosed location Tuesday night to discuss the numerous scandals facing him over travel and security expenses, in addition to his use of EPA staff to find his wife a job and set up talks for a potential Chick-fil-A franchise. The EPA inspector general is investigating Pruitt for multiple accusations.
Inhofe was “getting concerned” about the media reports, but after the “face-to-face” meeting, “I’m a little embarrassed that I was starting to doubt him in some areas where he shouldn’t have been doubted,” he told reporters Wednesday morning in his office.
Inhofe gave a radio interview last week in which he said he was considering calling for Pruitt’s resignation after a weeklong series of new accusations.
Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., announced that Pruitt will testify before his panel in August after the inspector general’s investigations are supposed to be completed.
Inhofe’s main point was that Pruitt has been unfairly maligned by the media, spurred by environmentalists who have created a real threat environment in which Pruitt’s security spending is justified.
“He has had a wakeup call,” Inhofe said, adding that Pruitt may have demonstrated poor judgment, but he was “gullible” and “he hadn’t been to Washington and wasn’t used to Washington ways.”
Inhofe said his concerns about Pruitt’s questionable behavior have been put to rest. And he made a number of points in Pruitt’s defense.
First, he blamed billionaire environmentalist Steyer for instigating the attack through a virtually never-ending supply of money to run attack campaigns.
“Here’s a man with unlimited funds to spread an extreme liberal agenda,” Inhofe said. He said the anti-Pruitt campaign wasn’t being run directly by Steyer but through his funding of the American Bridge PAC.
Second, accusations that Pruitt received Rose Bowl tickets as a favor are unfounded. Inhofe said. “He actually paid for the tickets” although the Oklahoma University ticket office and cleared them through the EPA ethics office.
Third, travel costs to Morocco and Italy “were in line with all past administrators.” Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy used $160,000 for foreign travel, Inhofe said.
On the Morocco trip, it is “his job” to evaluate the environmental sections of trade agreements between the U.S. and foreign countries. On the Italy trip, “he had to be there” as part of the Group of Seven delegations.
On security costs, he said Pruitt spent $43,000 for a secured phone booth because President Trump told Pruitt he required a “secured line.”
“I have a secured line, and I never used it in 32 years,” Inhofe said. The cost overrun of Pruitt’s booth was caused by government bureaucracy, which should have made a better deal, but it did not.
Inhofe said the $3 million price tag for having a 24-hour security detail was caused by serious threats facing Pruitt. Inhofe said Pruitt faces “far more serious threats” than any other EPA administrator.
He said President Barack Obama’s EPA administrators did not need round-the-clock security, because they were never threatened.
The group Occupy Wall Street this week published Pruitt’s home address in Tulsa, which Inhofe said constituted taking “a pitchfork to it” and invading his private space.
The EPA has said that security concerns have been why Pruitt has chosen to fly business class, rather than coach as required by federal travel rules.
Inhofe would not answer reporters’ questions on Pruitt’s attempts to find his wife employment, including as a franchisor for Chick-fil-A. Instead, he referred reporters to her attorney to answer any questions regarding his wife, Marlyn. Inhofe even gave out her lawyer’s phone number.
He also pointed out that House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy is continuing his probe into Pruitt’s actions and is conducting interviews.
Read more at Washington Examiner
Like it was under Clinton and Obama the Eco-Nazis/Watermelons want the EPA and Dept of the Interior under hard line Greens who push their radical ideas