Press Releases

Scott Pruitt’s hearings today featured what was essentially an admission that he lied on FoxNews and, reportedly, to President Trump about his knowledge of raises given to key aides.  It was one of the minority of questions he actually answered, amid a series of evasions, equivocations, pivots, filibusters, and falsehoods. His most common response was “I’m not aware.”

Here are a few other key moments from Pruitt’s two hearings in the House of Representatives today:

• Pruitt admitted that he did not know whether he had paid taxes on earnings from an LLC through which he purchased a home from an Oklahoma lobbyist.

• Pruitt was unable to say whether Samantha Dravis, one of his closest aides, had shown up for work over a period of three months, during which she continued to draw a six-figure salary.

• Pruitt falsely claimed that his former Deputy Chief of Staff Kevin Chmielewski “resigned last year.” Earlier this month Chmielewski told the staffs of Members of Congress, including Rep. Beyer, that he had been placed on leave in retaliation for refusing to retroactively approve a first-class upgrade for Dravis on a flight to Morocco, and that he was then unaware of his employment status at the EPA.

• Pruitt appeared to admit that he had used the services of an EPA employee, Millan Hupp, to help him search for housing. This is improper even if it took place on personal time and using personal email, and it is not clear that it did.

• Pruitt was taken to task over wasteful spending and ethical lapses by Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee, including Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania and Leonard Lance of New Jersey.

• Pruitt repeatedly lied by stating that he was not aware of retaliation or adverse actions taken against whistleblowers at the EPA. This is a well-documented falsehood.

• Pruitt said he didn’t even know what biometric locks are, though such locks accounted for thousands of the tens of thousands of dollars spent on his personal security by the EPA and he would need to use them to enter his office, in an already secure building.

• Pruitt gave barely credible answers about the stewardship of the Superfund program under his friend, banned banker Albert Kelly. When asked about whether Mr. Kelly, his subordinate, would testify before Congress, Pruitt offered that he would “encourage him to do so.”

• Pruitt was unable to definitively say whether his lobbyist-landlord Steven Hart lobbied the EPA on any occasions other than the recently reported instance, which Pruitt falsely said on FoxNews had never happened.

• Pruitt had so much difficulty answering simple yes-or-know questions that it took him three tries to affirm that he is the EPA Administrator.

• Pruitt was the recipient of fiery denunciations, including comments that he had “a propensity for grift,” that he created a “toxic workplace,” and is a “poster child for abuse of the public trust.” He was told repeatedly to his face that he should resign.

If there was any lingering question about whether these hearings today would make Pruitt’s massive cloud of scandal go away, we can assure you that to the contrary, his performance made his situation much worse.