Pruitt's security chief goaded spending, employees say

Source: Politico



'He’ll do anything to satisfy his boss,' one former staffer says of Secret Service agent turned EPA official Pasquale Perrotta.

By EMILY HOLDEN and ALEX GUILLÉN

04/12/2018 08:13 PM EDT


Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has had a willing partner in pushing for his massive spending on bodyguards and first-class flights, current and former EPA officials say — the Secret Service veteran who heads his security detail.

Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta played a key role in the investigation into mobster John "Junior" Gotti in the 1990s, and he’s boasted of his exploits with women, firearms and luxury watches in a self-published autobiography. Now he’s running security for the nation’s top environmental regulator like a lavishly funded SWAT team, according to interviews with seven people who have worked with him under both the Trump and Obama administrations.

The current and former staffers say that rather than acting as a restraint on Pruitt, who came into the agency a year ago demanding round-the-clock bodyguards, Perrotta has instead egged him on — indulging his requests for a 19-person security detail, high-performance SUV, $43,000 soundproof booth and bug-sweep of his offices, as well as first-class flights to limit his exposure to potential threats from fellow passengers. Perrotta has even barred all but a select group of agency employees from entering rooms and corridors near Pruitt’s offices, according to Ron Slotkin, a career official who recently retired as director of the EPA's multimedia office.

Perrotta has also accompanied Pruitt on flights and offered him advice on environmental policy and other agency matters, according to two of the sources.
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Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/12/pruitt-epa-security-chief-spending-pasquale-perrotta-480825

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The Republicans in Congress have to step up or this will continue on and on.

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Scott Pruitt is pictured. |Getty Images

Scott Pruitt’s spending, relationships with industry lobbyists and reputation for excessive secrecy have generated calls for his firing from Democratic lawmakers, some Republicans and even White House staff. | Brendan Smialowski/AFP//Getty Images

By Renato Mariotti