Dems cite EPA documents in demanding Pruitt probe
Two Democratic senators demanded a congressional inquiry Tuesday into the justification underpinning the round-the-clock security detail for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, citing new documents suggesting that level of security is not justified.
Writing to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., fellow panel members Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Thomas Carper, D-Del., referenced several internal EPA documents — which they kept confidential “in an abundance of caution to protect any specific ongoing security efforts” — that allude to the kind of threats that have not traditionally triggered 24/7 protection.
Those include messages threatening to leave scrapings of old paint at the administrator’s office and one telling Pruitt “we are watching you” on the agency’s climate-related policies.
In a Feb. 14 “Preliminary Intelligence Enterprise Threat Assessment Review” memo from EPA’s Office of Homeland Security Intelligence Team, according to the senators’ letter, the team’s memo states that “EPA Intelligence has not identified any specific credible direct threat to the EPA Administrator.”
Pruitt’s aides and members of EPA’s Inspector General Office have repeatedly said Pruitt faces a higher level of threats than his immediate predecessors. “Scott Pruitt has faced an unprecedented amount of death threats against him,” spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement. “Americans should all agree that members of the president’s cabinet should be kept safe.”
Barrasso on Tuesday said he had no intention of holding a hearing on the issue and criticized Carper and Whitehouse for quoting “law enforcement sensitive information.”
EPA’s assistant inspector general for investigations, Patrick Sullivan, has told The Washington Post and other media that Pruitt has received a higher number of threats than his predecessors — some of them “very personal, ugly threats.”