24-hr. security for Pruitt from get-go

WASHINGTON — An internal watchdog at the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that Administrator Scott Pruitt demanded and received unprecedented, around-the-clock protection from armed officers on his first day — a detail that appears at odds with past claims that the stepped-up security measures came in direct response to death threats.

EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins said in letters to Democratic senators that Pruitt himself initiated the 24-hour-a day protection, which far exceeds the part-time security afforded to past EPA administrators.

Pruitt had cited an August report by a staffer in the IG’s office detailing more than a dozen investigations of threats against him and his Obama administration predecessor as justification for the stepped-up security measures.