Energy

REPORT: Scott Pruitt’s Chief Of Staff Considers Bailing As Ethical issues Pile Up

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EPA Chief Scott Pruitt’s chief of staff is considering resigning as media reports about the administrator’s flight travel expenses pile up, according to an E&E News Thursday report.

The reports circling around Pruitt’s use of first class flights and pay raises to trusted aides are weighing on Ryan Jackson, the official responsible for much of the administrative work in Pruitt’s office, the report noted.

E&E News’ report, which relies on an unnamed administration official, comes hours after another top Pruitt aide resigned. Samantha Dravis, Pruitt’s policy chief and one of his closest staffers, told agency officials she’s planning to leave, according to another report Thursday from E&E News.

The EPA has not responded to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment about the veracity of E&E’s report on Jackson.

Reports about the turmoil surrounding Pruitt’s first term have come fast and furious. He allegedly rented a bedroom from the wife of a lobbyist during the first six months of tenure at the EPA, according to an ABC Monday report. The EPA spent more than $100,000 on first class flights for Pruitt, Politico showed on March 20.

The EPA chief provided two of his top aides with pay raises without receiving White House approval, The Atlantic suggested on April 3. Pruitt used a loophole tucked away in the agency’s Safe Drinking Water Act to justify the raises.

Republicans and Democrats are calling for President Donald Trump to oust the beleaguered EPA administrator. Florida GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo called the “corruption scandals” swirling around Pruitt an “embarrassment” in an April 3 tweet. California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu called the former Oklahoma AG “deeply paranoid” and unethical in a March 31 tweet.

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