The top ethics official of the Environmental Protection Agency says he did not have all the facts when he ruled that a condo lease agreement signed by Administrator Scott Pruitt reflected fair market value and did not violate federal gift rules.

However, those facts will not prompt him to reconsider his ruling.

Kevin Minoli, EPA’s designated agency ethics official and principal deputy general counsel, issued a retroactive memo on March 30 that said the agreement did not break federal ethics standards and was a “reasonable market value.”

Pruitt, from late February to early August of last year, paid $50 per night for a single bedroom in a condo on Capitol Hill co-owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist. He was only charged for nights he stayed there. If he had resided there for 30 consecutive days, the monthly rent would have been $1,500.

In a new memo, dated Wednesday, Minoli said the lease agreement did not contain all the relevant information about the housing arrangement. For example, the lease allowed for the use of a single room.

“All other space is controlled by the landlord,” it stated. However, several news reports have found that Pruitt’s adult daughter stayed in a second bedroom of the condo when she was working at the White House last year.

"Some have raised questions whether the actual use of the space was consistent with the terms of the lease. Evaluating those questions would have required factual information that was not before us and the review does not address those questions," Minoli wrote in the memo.

Minoli indicated in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Thursday that these facts will not be re-examined.

"Today’s memorandum shares the factual analysis done by the career ethics officials and how that analysis supports the conclusion reached in the March 30th memorandum that the lease did not constitute a prohibited gift," he said. "In reaffirming the original decision, the memorandum also responds to the misunderstanding or mischaracterization of the March 30 memo by explaining what the conclusion covers and what was beyond its scope."

Minoli also said he didn't evaluate whether Pruitt may have violated the impartiality rule. That rule would prohibit Pruitt from meeting with anyone from the landlord's lobbying firm.

The condo that Pruitt occupied is co-owned by Vicki Hart, the wife of energy lobbyist J. Steven Hart.

Vicki Hart is a lobbyist for the healthcare industry and does no lobbying before the EPA, her husband said.

J. Steven Hart, however, is the CEO of Williams and Jensen. His firm has clients with businesses relevant to the EPA’s regulatory efforts, including Cheniere Energy and Exxon Mobil. Cheniere is the largest natural gas exporter in the U.S.

J. Steven Hart also donated to Pruitt's campaigns to be attorney general of Oklahoma, according to campaign finance records.

He recently told the Washington Post that he “had no lobbying contact with EPA in 2017 or 2018” and referred to Pruitt as a “casual friend.”

In recent interviews, however, Pruitt has said he's known J. Steven Hart for years.

Minoli says a transaction engaged by a federal employee is not considered a gift if it reflects market value.

In the new memo, Minoli said he found seven private bedroom rentals available for $55 or less nightly within six blocks of where Pruitt stayed. But he also said that the average cost of rental apartments on Capitol Hill is $2,361 per month and that it cost an average of $2,173 per month to rent one-bedroom units within three blocks of Hart’s condo.

Walter Shaub, the former head of the Office of Government Ethics who now runs the Campaign Legal Center's government ethics program, argued that Pruitt did not pay market value, and violated federal gift rules, if his daughter also lived in the condo outside the single bedroom that the terms of the lease say Pruitt paid for.

"If it turns out Pruitt's daughter was staying in the other room, that's not covered by the ethics opinion because it's outside the scope of the lease," Shaub told CNN. "It would raise a factual question as to whether the landlord knew and permitted his use of the second room, which would be a gift."

The EPA is downplaying the importance of Minoli’s most recent memo.

“This memo reassures Friday's memo from EPA career ethics officials, who determined that the condo lease was lawful, based on market information for similar rentals on Capitol Hill," said EPA spokesperson Liz Bowman.

The White House is investigating the condo deal, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday, and is taking the issue "seriously."

Asked if President Trump is OK with the deal, Sanders said: "The president is not. We are reviewing the situation here at the White House. When we have a chance to have a deeper dive, we will let you know.”