Pruitt Watch
Scott Pruitt now has a Chick-fil-A scandal
First-class flyer, luxury pen aficionado, and energy lobby tenant Scott Pruitt is now embroiled in yet another scandal — this time involving fast food chain Chick-fil-A.
The Environmental Protection Agency administrator instructed his staffers to reach out to Chick-fil-A's chairman and president in the hopes of securing his wife a job, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Pruitt reportedly framed his outreach as "a potential business opportunity," only later revealing that he was actually working on behalf of his wife Marlyn, who was interested in opening a location of the fast food franchise. The deal never came to fruition, reports the Post, but government ethics experts say that the efforts alone constitute a questionable use of government time and resources.
Pruitt's executive scheduler emailed Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy in May 2017, after Pruitt had reportedly expressed to staffers that he wanted his wife to start earning a salary. Pruitt also reached out to Concordia, a nonprofit social impact organization, eventually securing Marlyn a short-term job organizing the group's annual conference.
The EPA chief is under federal investigation for a dozen different scandals, ranging from his decision to install a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office to his wild spending on "safety measures." Read more at The Washington Post.