In a series of tweets, Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel explained why the media freakout over Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s travel expenses is a bunch of hooey.
In the past week, multiple media outlets have published pieces freaking out over Pruitt’s travel expenses after it was discovered the EPA administrator flew first class on the taxpayer’s dime as a security precaution after he received multiple death threats.
In a column for The Washington Post, Hillary Clinton’s longtime lackey John Podesta wrote that “Scott Pruitt Needs To Go.”
“Pruitt was forced to release documents indicating that he spent more than $105,000 on first-class flights in his first year at the EPA alone,” Podesta writes. “The Post recently reported that one week’s worth of travel in June 2017 by Pruitt and his staff cost about $120,000, which the EPA inspector general is investigating.”
As The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway explained in a column yesterday, the media-invented scandal surrounding Pruitt’s travel expenses is largely manufactured garbage. You can read that in full here.
In a series of tweets, Strassel also explained that the travel costs of Pruitt and his staff are not unprecedented and that previous EPA heads actually spent more.
1/ Mr. Eisen, actually, no. Wrong on all counts.
Pruitt travel/security costs for 2017: $160k
Gina McCarthy travel/security costs for 2013-16: $630k
Lisa Jackson travel/security costs for 2009-12: $332k
Coming up next, the breakout for their trips… https://t.co/uLhArnzkoI— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 4, 2018
2/ Pruitt in 2017:
–G7 Summit in Italy: $84k
–Morocco: 40kMcCarthy in 2016
–Ghana: 68k
–Peru: 45k
–Tokyo: 75kMcCarthy in 2015
–Paris: 41k
–Dubai: 90k
–Tokyo: 68k
–Italy: 56k (a trip that, like Pruitt, involved a private tour of Vatican)— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 4, 2018
3/ McCarthy in 2014
–Vancouver: 62k (btw, it’s impressive to spend that much just getting to Canada)
–Vietnam: 68kMcCarthy in 2013
–China: 55kJackson in 2012
–Israel: 65k
Jackson in 2011
–Rio De Janeiro: 60k
–Montreal: 51k
–China: 156k (wow).— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 4, 2018
She also reiterated the statement from EPA ethics official Kevin Minoli dated March 30, which said Pruitt didn’t violate any laws or ethics rules when he stayed at a condo owned by environmental lobbyists.
“Therefore, entering into the lease was consistent with federal ethics regulations regarding gifts, and use of the property in accordance with the lease agreement did not constitute a gift a defined in those regulations.”
And you are welcome, for all these facts.— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 4, 2018
“the Ethics Office [staffed by career officials] reviewed the lease agreement . . . Under the terms of the lease, if the space was utilized for one 30-day month, then the rental cost would be $1500, which is a reasonable market value.” And more:
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) April 4, 2018
Read more at The Federalist
Pruitt has been a thorn in the side of the activists for a long time. If they had anything on him at all, he wouldn’t have made it this far. The poor losers are throwing the longest tantrum ever witnessed.
What did the pretend FBI agent cost tax payers under Gina
McCarthy’s watch ?
How much did the parties cost that the EPA threw for lobbyist’s
who wrote the regulations for the EPA ?
Scott Pruitt is the best hire of President Trump and that is why the left wing globalists are trying to find dirt .
Obama created an Anti American cult of eco – anarchists and they
will do whatever they can to ensure their survival .
There is a much bigger story here about the quid pro quo between the MSM and the pipeline of leakers they rely on to churn product .
The Trump Presidency has revealed staggering media corruption
and bias . The same bias that works against an open honest discussion of climate .
I could care less if Scott Pruitt flew a private jet to protect himself . Just sticking with the mission is key because he is one of the few that has the capacity to do so . The swamp knows it .