As one of the Trump administration’s top grifters, Scott Pruitt has devoted a significant amount of time and energy to scamming U.S. taxpayers and abusing his position as E.P.A. administrator. In exchange for his persistence, he’s been able to score first-class tickets around the world, six-figure trips abroad with seemingly no official purpose, a five-star Italian dinner with an accused sex offender, tickets to sporting events and meet and greets with the teams, a sweetheart housing arrangement, and, essentially, his own personal assistants in the form of E.P.A. staffers whose jobs include picking up dry cleaning and driving around looking for a particular type of fancy moisturizing lotion. Unfortunately, now and then, an employee will pick up the phone and let slip to the press that they have some concerns about their boss spending $43,000 on a high-security phone booth or using his position to get his wife her own Chick-fil-A franchise, and Pruitt will have to deal with them. And when you’ve been shamelessly scamming U.S. taxpayers for as long as the ex-Oklahoma attorney general has, these things start to add up:

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is reviewing claims that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt retaliated against a handful of employees who pushed back against his spending and management, according to three people familiar with the process.

At least six current and former agency officials were reportedly fired or reassigned to new jobs, allegedly for questioning Pruitt’s need for a 24-hour security protection—which has now cost at least $4.6 million—as well as his other spending and practices. O.S.C. is in the process of interviewing some of those employees, according to the sources, although an O.S.C. spokesman said the agency cannot comment on or confirm any open investigations.

According to previous reporting from The New York Times, four employees were moved to new jobs or took temporary leave after questioning Pruitt, including career Deputy Chiefs of Staff John E. Reeder and Reginald E. Allen, and security agents Eric Weese and John C. Martin. Deputy Associate Administrator Mario Caraballo was fired after “editing a report suggesting the recorded threats against Pruitt didn’t justify his large-scale security operation,” though according to Politico, the E.P.A. claims he was “let go for other reasons.” Kevin Chmielewski, a political aide and deputy chief of staff for operations who was called out by Trump on the campaign trail for his loyalty, was also fired. (He’s said in interviews with lawmakers that Pruitt is an even bigger monster than anyone can imagine.)

While Pruitt will presumably push back, claiming that the investigation is yet another Deep State plot against him, one person who lodged a complaint said the fired or reassigned staffers “are highly educated, professional people who don’t complain. They do their job, they do it well and they’re tired of being abused by career employees who enable [Chief of Staff] Ryan Jackson and Scott Pruitt to get away with what they’re doing.”