Ethics violations linger...

Pruitt ethics probes linger even after resignation

By ANTHONY ADRAGNA

Scott Pruitt may be out of the EPA, but that doesn't mean his troubles are over.

Pruitt is still facing more than a dozen federal probes from his tenure as EPA administrator, and EPA’s watchdog and congressional investigators are promising to continue looking into his long list of ethical woes and lavish spending allegations. Those investigations have already prompted Pruitt to turn to an outside attorney for advice and set up a legal defense fund before his resignation.

EPA’s inspector general expects to finish and release as many as four separate reports on Pruitt this summer, according to a spokesman.

An investigation into Pruitt’s security detail may wrap up as early as this month, and the watchdog expects to complete work in August on its audit of Pruitt’s 2017 travel and the use of a loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act to give raises to close aides. And a separate probe into law enforcement pay will likely conclude in two to three months, according to spokesman Jeffrey Lagda.

Lagda cautioned that the timeframes for the investigations are only estimates, since the work is ongoing and the dates can change. It’s also not entirely clear yet how Pruitt’s decision Thursday to resign may affect the ongoing work.

“[The Office of Inspector General] is still in the process of reviewing and analyzing the current situation related to Pruitt’s resignation,” Lagda told POLITICO.

There is no estimated completion date yet for the IG's investigation into whether EPA is properly preserving text messages and emails that may have been sent to Pruitt's non-public accounts, as well as its responsiveness to public records requests, according to Lagda. The IG also cannot compel Pruitt, as a former federal employee, to meet with them.

Those IG reports could provide fresh ammunition for Pruitt’s critics, but if they find evidence that laws were broken, they must hand the evidence to the Attorney General to decide whether to prosecute.

Pruitt confirmed in May that he had formed a legal defense fund, though Democrats and outside groups raised concerns about the possible conflicts of interest that could arise if companies or industries made donations to that fund, and whether its operation would be sufficiently transparent.

Five House Democrats later asked the Justice Department and FBI to open a criminal investigation into whether Pruitt’s activities were used to enrich himself and his family — such a probe would not necessarily be disclosed publicly.

Other investigations continue as well. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is looking into allegations Pruitt retaliated against employees who questioned his spending and management habits. And the Washington Post reported on Thursday that the White House Office of Management and Budget has determined the $43,000 private phone booth Pruitt installed in his office violated the law. The Government Accountability Office has previously said the purchase was illegal.

Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee continues with its probe of Pruitt’s actions despite his resignation. A committee aide told POLITICO the panel expects to interview another former Pruitt aide, former Trump EPA political staffer-turned-whistleblower Kevin Chmielewski, soon.

And the panel’s Democrats sent a clear signal they want to follow the revelations wherever they may lead and that Pruitt’s departure doesn’t change anything.

“We regularly investigate issues long after the person has left office and it should continue until we get all the docs and discover all the things Pruitt did, and who else he did it with, what was the impact, and how to prevent it from happening in the future,” a Democratic aide told POLITICO.

Pruitt’s resignation came as House Oversight Committee Democrats released new transcripts from interviews with some of the former administrator's closest aides that confirmed aspects of many of the recent allegations against him.

Three aides, including chief of staff Ryan Jackson, acknowledged removing many meetings from his calendars they deemed “personal” and that could have have politically controversial, including retroactively removing a reference to a dinner with Cardinal George Pell after Pell's arrest on sexual abuse charges.

“I did that because there were — and there have been since — just personal dinners or personal meetings which he has had that if it doesn’t relate to EPA business, I don’t think it’s necessary to put it on the schedule,” Jackson told Oversight Committee staff, according to the transcript.

Another former aide, policy adviser Samantha Dravis, said she helped Pruitt’s wife, Marlyn, seek employment opportunities during work hours by tapping into her connections to conservative organizations. But she said Pruitt’s push for his wife to land a $250,000 a year post given her limited work experience was too much — even for staunch Pruitt supporters like the Federalist Society. Dravis said she ultimately refused to contact certain organizations and expressed concern doing would violate the Hatch Act.

“I was explicitly asked by Administrator Pruitt to assist Marlyn with obtaining this employment,” Dravis said.

Dravis also said Pruitt originally hoped he would be named attorney general rather than Jeff Sessions, and had “one or two” discussions with her about his ambitions for the post after he became head of the EPA. She said he “hinted” that he had discussed the matter with Trump but didn’t reveal further details.