If, over the past month or so, you’ve come down with a case of Scott Pruitt fatigue, you’re not alone. On a near-daily basis, stories have emerged supporting Pruitt’s nomination for Most Blatantly Corrupt Trump Official, to the point that it would seem more newsworthy if the E.P.A. chief were found to have respected taxpayer money, or didn’t fire a whistleblower for questioning his use of government resources. Instead, on every day that ends in “Y,” we’ve learned that Pruitt had a shady housing arrangement with a lobbyist, or installed a $43,000 phone booth in his office, or asked his driver to use sirens to speed through traffic so he could get to happy hour on time, or asked his staff to rent him a $100,000-a-month private plane to accommodate his “travel needs.” So when little things happen, such as the head of Pruitt’s security detail—the guy who reportedly insisted Pruitt fly first class for safety reasons—resigning amid scrutiny, it barely makes the news cycle. Still, we would be remiss if we didn’t note fresh information about Pruitt’s little trip to Morocco, which apparently set U.S. taxpayers back six figures and was arranged by another one of his lobbyist pals.

The Washington Post reports that Richard Smotkin, a former Comcast lobbyist who has known Pruitt for around a decade, basically arranged most of the E.P.A. administrator’s 2017 trip to Morocco—a jaunt that was already looking a little tenuous based on lawmakers’ sense that Pruitt simply wanted to visit the African country, and contrived an excuse to make it seem like legitimate business. According to allegations made by Kevin Chmielewski, the E.P.A.’s deputy chief of staff who was put on leave without pay earlier this year, Pruitt often made travel decisions based on his “desire to visit particular cities or countries rather than official business,” and then told staff to “‘find me something to do [in those locations]’ to justify the use of taxpayer funds.” In this case, however, the Morocco trip seems to simultaneously align with Pruitt’s habit of doing lobbyists a solid on behalf of the U.S. government: Smotkin is registered as a foreign agent representing Morocco and in April won a $40,000-a-month contract, retroactive to January 1, to “promote the kingdom’s cultural and economic interests.”

According to the Post, Smotkin accompanied Pruitt on multiple stops during his visit, including a trip to Green Energy Park and dinner on the E.P.A. chief’s final night in Marrakesh. While the E.P.A. insisted in a statement that the lobbyist “did not attend or participate in any official meetings with the Moroccan government,” sources familiar with the visit told the Post that “he was a near-constant presence there,” communicating with Isam Taib, political counselor to the Moroccan Embassy in Washington, i.e., the guy who signed off on Smotkin’s $40,000-a-month contract. In other words: just another day in the life of Scott Pruitt, a man who, inexplicably, still has a job in the White House.

In the face of questions like, Hey, did you know federal law prohibits public officials from using government resources to enrich their friends and family?, the E.P.A. has insisted the Morocco trip was a totally legitimate effort to “nail down details of a bilateral trade agreement.” It’s also claimed that Pruitt was “unaware of the depth of Smotkin’s business relationship with the Moroccan government,” which seems to be a common excuse from the administrator. (I didn’t know about those raises! I had no idea the fancy phone booth cost $43,000!) Larry Noble, senior director and general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, told the Post that Smotkin’s involvement raises major questions at best. “It shows, at the very least, a tremendous amount of sloppiness, and it raises ethical issues about the relationship between Smotkin and Pruitt,” Noble said. “If Pruitt did this to benefit Smotkin and did this to show that Smotkin has an in with the E.P.A. administrator, then he’s using his official office to benefit a private person.”