Ethics official says he lacked key facts on Pruitt

WASHINGTON» The Environmental Protection Agency’s top ethics official said Wednesday that he lacked key facts when he concluded recently that Administrator Scott Pruitt’s rental lease with a lobbyist last year did not violate any federal gift rules.

Kevin Minoli, EPA’s designated agency ethics official and principal deputy general counsel, had written in a March 30 memo that Pruitt’s lease of a room in a Capitol Hill condo co-owned by health-care lobbyist Vicki Hart — for $50 a night, charged only when he stayed there — did not constitute a gift because that rate for 30 consecutive days would have equated to a monthly rent of $1,500. Minoli described that as “a reasonable market value.”

But in a new memo, first reported by CNN, Minoli emphasized that he evaluated the terms of the lease only and not activities the document did not cover.

The updated assessment comes as members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle have become increasingly critical of Pruitt of his handling of several ethical misconduct allegations, according to a senior White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly. Despite Pruitt’s denials, Trump’s top aides are convinced he played a key role in authorizing massive raises last month for two staffers that joined him at EPA from Oklahoma.

In an interview with Fox News’ Ed Henry on Wednesday, Pruitt implied he was not involved in the decisions on pay hikes for senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt and director of scheduling and advance Millan Hupp.

“I found out this yesterday, and I corrected the action. And we are in the process of finding out how it took place and correcting that going forward,” he told Henry, adding later, “I did not know that they got pay raises until yesterday.”

White House officials also are uneasy with the administrator’s recent publicity push with conservative media outlets, including his appearance on Fox News.

Minoli also clarified he did not examine whether Pruitt’s arrangement violated the impartiality rule, which would have prohibited the administrator from having any dealings with other employees at Vicki Hart’s lobbying firm.

As President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One for a trip to West Virginia on Thursday, he was asked by reporters if he still had confidence in Pruitt. “I do,” he said.