Scott Pruitt reportedly used his position to try to get his wife a Chick-fil-A gig

“If you had told me a month ago I would be researching mattress styles and Chick-fil-A franchise rules as part of my beat, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Washington Post correspondent Juliet Eilperin tweeted on Tuesday.

But with Scott Pruitt in her bailiwick, maybe she shouldn’t be so surprised.

We haven’t even finished scratching our heads over reports that he told an aide to find him a used mattress from a Trump hotel, and now this: Pruitt, just three months after being sworn in as head of the EPA, had an aide contact Chick-fil-A Chairman Dan Cathy about “a potential business opportunity,” according to the Washington Post.

And what opportunity was that? Pruitt was reportedly interested in getting his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise. The call was canceled, and his wife never opened a restaurant, but still, add this one to a growing list of questionable decisions Pruitt has made.

Florida Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch tweeted this reaction:

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst also chimed in, calling Pruitt “about as swampy as you get” and saying that “if the president wants to drain the swamp, he needs to take a look at his own cabinet,” Bloomberg reported.

Several current and former EPA aides told the Washington Post that Pruitt, frustrated by the cost of living in Washington, was eager for his wife to start earning a paycheck.

According to public records cited in the Post story, the Pruitts have an $850,000 mortgage on their home in Oklahoma, with monthly payments of about $5,500. This is on top of their apartment on Capitol Hill, where one-bedroom units start at $3,000 a month. Pruitt earns $189,600 a year as the head of the EPA.