Report: Lobbyist helped arrange Scott Pruitt's expensive trip to Morocco

Scott Pruitt.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

A former Comcast lobbyist who has known Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt for years spent several months helping arrange the trip Pruitt took to Morocco last December, four people with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post.

Richard Smotkin accompanied Pruitt on the four-day trip, joining him at several stops, the Post says, and in April, he won a $40,000-a-month contract with the Moroccan government, retroactive to Jan. 1, to promote the country's cultural and economic interests. The trip has raised eyebrows because it's not clear what it had to do with advancing the mission of the EPA, and it cost more than $100,000, the Post reports, with eight staffers and round-the-clock security along for the ride. The EPA has said the trip was made in order to complete a bilateral trade agreement.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.