Lieu and Beyer Seek Investigation of Pruitt's Lease From Lobbyist

Press Release

Today Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Don Beyer (D-VA) wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) seeking an immediate investigation into EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's questionable lease arrangement with an energy lobbyist.

The Representatives wrote:

"We are writing to request you investigate allegations that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt received a below market rate condominium lease from Vicki and Steven Hart, both of whom are lobbyists. Mr. Hart, who is Chairman of the firm Williams & Jensen, also lobbies on issues over which the EPA has jurisdiction. We also request you investigate possible misconduct surrounding a recent EPA Office of General Counsel after-the-fact ethics justification of the below-market lease that was facially misleading.

… the Office of the General Counsel's memorandum explicitly states, "The lease authorized use by the Administrator and his immediate family, specifically including his spouse and children, and consistent with that provision of the lease his immediate family did stay there when they were in Washington, DC.' This directly contradicts statements made by Vicki Hart, co-owner of the condo, who told ABC News, "The rental agreement was with Scott Pruitt… if other people were using the bedroom or the living quarters, I was never told, and I never gave him permission to do that.' The OGC decision and Hart's statements cannot simultaneously be true."

The Representatives also sought an investigation of the justification of that lease first published by the EPA's General Counsel this week, over a year after the lease was entered into, and into the expenses incurred by taxpayers when Pruitt's security detail destroyed a door after reporting that he was unresponsive.

Representative Beyer is the Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and the Ranking Member of its Subcommittee on Oversight. He serves as co-Chair of the Congressional Safe Climate Caucus.

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