Reports contradict what lobbyist, EPA head said about contact

WASHINGTON — Newly filed reports show the Washington lobbyist whose wife rented a bargain-priced Capitol Hill condo to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt had far more contact with the agency than previously disclosed, despite repeated denials by both men.

Powerhouse lobbying firm Williams & Jensen amended its 2017 disclosure filings to show that former chairman J. Steven Hart contacted the EPA on behalf of the Coca-Cola Co., pork producer Smithfield Foods and a board overseeing the finances of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.

Pruitt has denied that Hart lobbied his agency in 2017, most recently during congressional testimony last month. The firm amended its required federal lobbying disclosures after an extensive review of Hart’s emails, calendar entries and other materials.

Hart was forced to retire early as a result of the scandal that erupted following public disclosure of the EPA chief ’s unusual living arrangements. Pruitt has denied wrongdoing, describing Hart as a personal friend from his home state of Oklahoma.

In a statement, Williams & Jensen said Hart had failed to fully disclose his lobbying activities to his own firm, resulting in prior reports omitting information.

Both Pruitt and Hart have publicly denied the lobbyist had conducted any business with

EPA in 2017. At a May 16 hearing before a Senate appropriations subcommittee, the embattled

EPA chief erroneously insisted that Hart had not lobbied the government last year.

“Steve Hart is someone that was not registered as a lobbyist in 2017,” Pruitt testified. “He’s a longtime associate and friend.”

Records showed that Hart was in fact a registered lobbyist in 2017, though at the time it had not yet been formally disclosed that he directly lobbied Pruitt’s agency. Federal law makes it a crime to “knowingly and willfully” give materially false statements to Congress.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox did not respond to requests for comment Friday night about whether Pruitt still stood by his testimony.

Pruitt’s connections to Hart have been under intense scrutiny since March, when media reports first revealed that the EPA chief had rented a luxury Capitol Hill condo from a corporation coowned by Hart’s wife for just $50 a night. Pruitt’s daughter, then a White House summer intern, stayed in a second bedroom at the condo at no additional cost.

On Pruitt’s 2017 condo lease, Steven Hart’s name was originally typed in as “landlord” but was scratched out. The name of his wife, health care lobbyist Vicki Hart, was scribbled in.

Andrew Harnik / Associated Press Media first revealed in March that EPA chief Scott Pruitt had rented this luxury Capitol Hill condo from a corporation co-owned by lobbyist J. Steven Hart’s wife for just $50 a night.

Pruitt erroneously told a Senate panel that Hart had not lobbied the government last year.