It seems like an eternity ago that Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned amid an uproar over the expensive, chartered flights he took on the taxpayer’s dime. Alas, it was just last September. But it was a big deal to President Donald Trump, because in racking up at least $400,000 in travel bills, Price broke Trump’s most important campaign promise: to drain the swamp. Price’s profligacy even spurred a change to the administration’s travel policy. “All cabinet travel requests now must be cleared by the White House,” The New York Times reported.



Presumably, that means the White House has approved the exorbitant flights taken recently by Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Washington Post reported Sunday that Pruitt’s frequent first-class travel includes a $1,600 flight from D.C. to New York and two $4,443 round-trip flights to Alabama, and that he took a $36,000 military jet from Cincinnati to New York—so he could catch his first-class flight to Rome. Pruitt also brings a large security detail and top aides with him on every trip, increasing his travel bill compared to past administrators. In all, the Post reported, Pruitt and his entourage racked up at least $90,000 in travel bills—and that was just the month of June.

On Tuesday evening, CBS News revealed another costly flight: $7,000 round-trip to Milan on Emirates, “whose business class cabins are some of the world’s most luxurious... The entire trip cost more than $43,000 dollars, according to travel vouchers obtained by the Environmental Integrity Project.”

. Per CBS News, @EPAScottPruitt flew Emirates business class back to the US from Milan in June. To be clear, this is what Emirates biz class is (photo credit: Emirates). pic.twitter.com/zqfNht9oPG — Andrew Freedman (@afreedma) February 14, 2018

Federal regulations dictate that government employees be “prudent” about travel. They must book “the least expensive class of travel that meets their needs.” One of the only exceptions is when there are “exceptional security circumstances,” meaning “use of coach class accommodations would endanger your life or government property.” The EPA told the Post that this has been the case for Pruitt, though it did not detail specific threats that prohibit Pruitt from flying coach, as most members of Congress and other cabinet officials do.

Initially, the Post’s report didn’t appear to bother Pruitt. On Tuesday—not 48 hours after the Post published its story—he was spotted by Politico boarding a plane for yet another first-class trip, this time to Boston. But things got confusing after Politico’s report. When asked to confirm whether Pruitt took a first-class flight to Boston, an EPA spokesperson dodged. “We encourage you to contact Politico about the accuracy of their reporting,” Jahan Wilcox told me in an email. Pressed further, Wilcox still would not confirm that Pruitt’s flight was first-class. “We follow the recommendations of security personnel,” he said.