Environmental Protection Agency Chief Scott Pruitt is just the latest member of President Trump’s cabinet to come under fire for spending large amounts of taxpayer money in order to fly to various parts of the country, ostensibly for government business.
Pruitt has taken at least four noncommercial and military flights since mid-February, according to a congressional report obtained by The Washington Post, totaling more than $58,000.
“When the administrator travels, he takes commercial flights,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman told The Post, explaining that the outstanding flights were due to extenuating circumstances.
But EPA documents also indicate that Pruitt and his staff regularly travel in business class and that the EPA head was “entitled to business class accomodation due to security concerns.”
EPA's Pruitt one of two cabinet members at swearing-in of Canada ambassador Kelly Craft. Maybe unrelatedly, her husband is a coal titan. https://t.co/zjmnpX2VcR
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 26, 2017
BREAKING: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt flew on a private plane for travel on July 27 in OK. Cost to taxpayers: $14,285.71. Story to come
— Julianna Goldman (@juliannagoldman) September 27, 2017
The EPA’s inspector general, notes The Post, officially launched a preliminary probe into Pruitt’s travels to Oklahoma last month, after members of Congress voiced their concerns about Pruitt’s frequent travel to and from his home state of Oklahoma at taxpayer expense.
Read more at The Washington Post
