Key GOP chairman ramps up questions for EPA on Pruitt spending

By STEPHANIE EBBS and BENJAMIN SIEGEL Apr 13, 2018, 6:49 PM ET

The GOP chairman of the House Oversight Committee is demanding more answers from Environmental Protection Agency officials about administrator Scott Pruitt's security spending.

South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy asked the EPA to make top agency staff available for on-the-record interviews with the committee and provide more documents about Pruitt's round-the-clock security operation.

Gowdy's third letter to EPA, the second one this week, specifically asks for the agency provide documents about the decision to increase Pruitt's security detail to a 24-7 operation and records relating to the travel of the head of his security detail Pasquale "Nino" Perrotta. Gowdy also asked the EPA to provide documents on Pruitt's trips to Italy and Morocco, which have attracted attention because of the cost, including Pruitt's first-class flights.

The letter asks the EPA to schedule interviews with the committee for five officials at EPA, including Perrotta and Kevin Chmielewski, who has come forward as a whistleblower and shared new allegations about excess spending at the agency with lawmakers. Gowdy also asks for Pruitt's chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, to meet with the committee, as well as two aides who reportedly received significant raises under a little-known provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

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