Reuters
WASHINGTON — The head of the Office of Government Ethics on Friday wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency urging the department to “take action” to address any ethical violations by its administrator, Scott Pruitt.
Dave Apol, the acting head of ethics office, in the letter cited Pruitt’s recent actions that “raise concerns and may constitute a violation of the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch” and outlined “the resulting need for your agency [to] take action to appropriately address any violations.”
Apol’s letter comes as the White House is conducting a review of Pruitt’s activities. White House chief of staff John Kelly told President Donald Trump in recent weeks that he was convinced Pruitt needed to step down after recent negative reports about his spending habits and management style, but the president is not ready to fire him, according to a White House official. “Scott is doing a great job!” Trump tweeted on Saturday.
Apol cited recent news reports that Pruitt had rented accommodations in Washington at below-market rates from the family of an energy lobbyist. Pruitt also has faced questions over his travel expenses, and he had a testy interview with Fox News when he was pressed over large pay raises reportedly given to two EPA employees.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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