EPA leader’s condo lease under review

The deal allowed Scott Pruitt to pay just $50 a night, and only on the nights he stayed there. The deal allowed Scott Pruitt to pay just $50 a night, and only on the nights he stayed there. Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close EPA leader’s condo lease under review 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is opening internal investigations into Scott Pruitt’s $50-a-night condo deal with a lobbyist and other recent allegations, adding to about a dozen federal probes involving the EPA chief.

EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr. confirmed the new investigations in a letter to lawmakers written last week and released Friday. Pruitt’s condo deal would be one of several recent allegations involving Pruitt that would be the topic of new or expanded investigations, Elkins wrote.

The Office of Government Ethics, which is the government’s top ethics watchdog agency, and lawmakers had asked for investigations of the condo lease and others of the latest allegations raised involving Pruitt.

The agency’s whistle-blower hotline also had received calls on the same allegations, Elkins wrote.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox declined comment, saying the agency does not publicly address matters related to the inspector general.

Pruitt for much of last year rented a Washington bedroom from a lobbyist whose husband had pending matters before the EPA. The unusual deal allowed the EPA chief to pay just $50 a night, and only on the nights he actually stayed there.

Both Pruitt and the lobbyist, Steven Hart, denied Hart had conducted any recent business with EPA. But Hart was forced to admit last week he had met with Pruitt at EPA headquarters last summer after his then-firm, Williams & Jensen, revealed he had lobbied the agency on a required federal disclosure form

Announcement of the new investigations comes after Pruitt weathered six hours of scathing questions and criticism from House Democrats on ethics allegations, in back-to-back hearings Thursday.

The hearings were seen as make-or-break for Pruitt in the wake of months of news reports into alleged misconduct that eroded support of the former Oklahoma attorney general at the White House.

Pruitt gave clipped, lawyerly answers to Democrat’s questions on the ethics allegations, repeatedly blaming subordinates for decisions he said he had no knowledge of.

The day ended without any obvious, immediate mortal blow to Pruitt politically, and no Republican lawmakers in the hearings joined calls on Pruitt to resign.

“He obviously hopes that the bad headlines generated by his bad behavior will go away, and that he won’t be held accountable for his actions,” said Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat and one of the members of Congress asking for the expanded probes.

“The Inspector General’s letter announcing new reviews assures us that this will not happen,” Beyer said in a statement.

Pruitt is a onetime Oklahoma state lawmaker who built alliances to wealthy oilmen and influential Republican conservatives. As head of the environmental agency he has faced an unending series of revelations involving issues such as pricey trips in first-class seats and unusual security spending, including a $43,000 soundproof booth for making private phone calls. He also demanded 24-hour-a-day protection from armed officers, resulting in a 20-member security detail. Pruitt denied wrongdoing in his testimony to lawmakers on Thursday.

Ellen Knickmeyer is an Associated Press writer.