Audit probes ex-EPA chieg’s $124K travel spending
WASHINGTON — Scott Pruitt, President Donald Trump’s scandal-plagued first Environmental Protection Agency administrator, spent nearly $124,000 on “excessive” travel costs during a 10-month period, according to an internal audit released Thursday.
Pruitt took 40 trips, at a cost to taxpayers of $985,037, for himself, his staff and an unusually large security team between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2017, the audit found. Pruitt resigned under fire last July.
Pruitt took 16 trips to Tulsa, Okla., where he has a home, at a cost of $114,487. Many of his trips home were over weekends.
The EPA inspector general’s office recommended the EPA consider recovering the $123,942 from Pruitt and others. It said the figure represented the difference between coach fares and the higher-priced business class and first-class tickets that Pruitt and his entourage purchased instead.
The EPA rejected the recommendation, saying in a statement that Pruitt’s travel costs were authorized, and attempts to claw back the money were “inappropriate.” The agency retroactively approved Pruitt’s travel spending in some cases.
The spending was “excessive” because it was improperly approved “without sufficient justification” or by someone who did not have authority to approve it, the internal audit found.
“The former Administrator and his accompanying (security) agents incurred more travel costs than necessary or appropriate by flying first/business class,” the 84-page report states.
EPA officials justified Pruitt’s first-class travel at the time, saying it was necessary to prevent “lashing out from passengers” in coach class who were angry at the Trump administration’s rollback of environmental regulations.
“We believe that the continued use of coach seats for the Administrator would endanger his life,” the head of Pruitt’s security detail wrote in a 2017 memo.
Investigators also found that Pruitt and his staff spent more on hotels than permitted, exceeding the government’s maximum allowed rate by 150%.