How Pruitt will defend himself on Capitol Hill: Spread blame

WASHINGTON — As Scott Pruitt, the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency, prepares to testify before Congress on Thursday amid a series of spending and ethics investigations, an internal EPA document indicates that he may blame his staff for many of the decisions that have put a cloud over his tenure at the agency.

The document, known as the “hot topics” list, appears to lay out talking points for Pruitt’s two sessions before the House of Representatives. It suggests that Pruitt is prepared to say that he now flies coach when traveling; that others were responsible for giving two close aides who used to work for him in Oklahoma substantial pay raises; and that EPA officials who were reassigned or demoted after challenging his spending all had performance issues.

The document, which The New York Times has reviewed and the veracity of which the EPA did not dispute, seemed to be a work in progress. Pruitt’s responses may change Thursday when he appears before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee in the morning and a House Appropriations Committee panel in the afternoon.

His testimony coincides with rising calls from both Democrats and Republicans for Pruitt to step aside. He has been criticized for spending more than $3 million on security in his first year in office, a figure that includes salary and overtime for his security detail of more than 20 people, some of whom have been dispatched to protect Pruitt on private trips to Disneyland, professional basketball games and the 2018 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

Republicans in both chambers of Congress are increasingly raising concerns about Pruitt. “They’re not good reports,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate. “He has to answer those questions. There’s a lot of stuff out there that is certainly not helpful to his or the administration’s cause.”

Pruitt, in his prepared opening statement, which the House Energy and Commerce Committee made public Wednesday morning, makes no mention of ethics issues that have dogged him.

Against that backdrop, the hot topics document offers a window into how Pruitt views what both Democrats and Republicans say are serious ethical lapses.

The responses show that Pruitt is prepared to push back hard against accusations that he misspent taxpayer money and to blame both career and political staff members as well as his security detail for myriad spending decisions.

If Pruitt is asked about the roughly $163,000 in first-class flights he has taken since assuming the helm of EPA, the document suggests that Pruitt will say he was obligated to take the advice of his security team that first class was safer. But, he may tell lawmakers, he has since instructed officers to address security threats in new ways, including by allowing him to sit in coach.

“Changes have already begun occurring and I have been flying coach,” was one possible response, according to the document.

If he is asked about the 67 percent and 72 percent raises given to current aides who worked for Pruitt when he served as attorney general of Oklahoma, the document indicates he should answer that all decisions were made by others. The raises are suspended while the White House reviews them, he may say.

Pruitt’s goal Thursday may be to convince Republicans that his personal spending issues will not be an ongoing political distraction. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said, “It will be a cordial reception, but he’s got some tough questions to answer.”