Sources close to EPA expect more political appointees to leave soon. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo Pruitt loses his fourth EPA aide this week — and more might be on the way

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's inner circle continued to shrink Friday with the departure of yet another political aide — the fourth staffer to exit the agency this week amid the ongoing investigations into Pruitt's expensive travel and security spending and his tight relations with lobbyists.

Sources close to EPA expect more political appointees to join the exodus soon.


John Konkus, the second-in-command on the public affairs team, is leaving for a top communications job at the Small Business Administration. He has worked with Pruitt since helping prepare him for his Senate confirmation last year.

The news comes just a day after EPA’s top spokeswoman, Liz Bowman, announced she was heading to a job on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, Pruitt’s lead security agent and Superfund task force head both quit. Policy chief Samantha Dravis left last month, and before that agriculture adviser Jeff Sands departed.

The raft of departures comes just a week after Pruitt sat through a day of grilling in front of two House subcommittees in which he blamed staff for many of the controversies surrounding his penchant for first-class travel, his spending on a round-the-clock security detail and a $43,000 soundproof phone booth and the $50-a-night Capitol Hill condo lease he secured last year from the wife of an energy lobbyist.

Pruitt is due back in the Capitol on May 16, when he's expected to testify before a Senate Appropriations subpanel, a Republican aide said Friday.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who chairs the subcommittee, has previously described the growing oversight efforts on Pruitt as "absolutely appropriate."

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EPA praised Konkus on Friday in confirming his departure.

"From transition, working side by side with John as one of the ‘sherpas’ for Administrator Pruitt’s nomination, through his work on the beachhead early at EPA, and as Deputy Associate Administrator, John has been a valuable member of the EPA communications team," Ryan Jackson, Pruitt's chief of staff said in a statement. "Administrator Pruitt is grateful for John’s service and wishes him well as he continues to serve the Trump administration leading communications at the Small Business Administration.”

Konkus also had ethics approval to moonlight as a media consultant, although EPA records show he never did any work for prospective clients.

“John has an amazing attitude. He’s a really good person, honest and a loyal supporter of President Trump,” one source said.

Three congressional committees are investigating Pruitt, and two of them are poring over documents about his travels and expenses. The head of his security detail, Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta, who sources say encouraged Pruitt’s lavish spending on security, sat with House Oversight Committee staff for several hours as part of that panel's probe.

Pruitt has spent at least $105,000 on first class flights, arguing his security team worried about his personal safety. He increased his security to a round-the-clock team of bodyguards, costing millions of dollars, and he got a bargain deal on a Capitol Hill condo rental from the wife of a lobbyist who aimed to influence EPA business, records reveal, including making recommendations for agency science boards on behalf of a client.

And late Thursday, two senior Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee sent a letter to Pruitt asking for all records related to a trip to Israel that was later shelved and pertaining to the agency’s actions around a water technology company with strong ties to GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said current and former EPA employees raised “scientific, legal and procedural concerns” about the agency’s intended support for the Israeli company, Water-Gen.

The Washington Post first reported Thursday night on the senators' letter, saying Adelson played a larger-than-expected role in helping set the agenda for Pruitt's aborted Israel trip.

POLITICO reported in March that Pruitt met last year with the company, which touts a technology for pulling water from the atmosphere, “as a request of Sheldon Adelson,” according to copies of Pruitt's calendar that were released after activists filed a lawsuit. EPA this year signed a research agreement with Water-Gen in which the agency will study the company's technology.

Alan Dershowitz, the prominent American attorney and a member of Water-Gen’s board of directors, also pitched the technology at last year’s gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, as POLITICO has reported. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted the technology during his own AIPAC speech this year, and Israeli media reported that company executives met with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year.