During their interviews with congressional investigators last Thursday and Friday, two of Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt's top aides discussed how Pruitt asked them to do things like help his wife find a job and look into ways he could get out of a rental agreement without having to pay any penalties, three people familiar with the sessions told The Washington Post.
Samantha Dravis, the EPA's former associate administrator for the Office of Policy, and Pruitt's chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, were interviewed separately by staffers of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Dravis revealed that Pruitt asked her to contact the Republican Attorneys General Association, which he once led and where she once worked, while trying to find his wife a job that paid at least $200,000, but she refused to avoid any potential conflicts of interest, the Post reports. Dravis is a lawyer, and also said she was asked along with another top aide, Sarah Greenwalt, to review a rental agreement he wanted to break, people with knowledge of the interview told the Post, to see if they could find a way he could get out of the agreement without having to pay any penalties.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Road trip: New England’s maple syrup seasonFeature New England is serving up maple syrup in delicious and unexpected ways
-
Music Reviews: Mdou Moctar, Panda Bear, and Tate McRaeFeature “Tears of Injustice,” “Sinister Grift,” and “So Close to What”
-
What's at stake in the Mahmoud Khalil deportation fight?Talking Points Vague accusations and First Amendment concerns
-
Trump hawks Teslas, slashes more federal jobsSpeed Read The Education Department cut its workforce in half ahead of an expected Trump order to shutter the agency
-
Ukraine agrees to ceasefire, ending US aid freezeSpeed Read Kyiv made peace with the Trump administration by agreeing to an immediate ceasefire in its war against Russian invaders
-
ICE arrests Palestinian advocate with green cardSpeed Read Recent Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil has had his visa revoked, despite his status as a permanent resident
-
Trump doesn't rule out recession as tariffs biteSpeed Read In an interview for Fox News, Trump acknowledges the economic turbulence caused by his tariffs but claims his policies will be worth it in the long run
-
Mark Carney selected next Canadian prime ministerSpeed Read The political novice will succeed outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
-
Trump eases Mexico, Canada tariffs again as markets slidespeed read The president suspended some of the 25% tariffs he imposed on Mexican and Canadian imports
-
Trump tells Cabinet they are in charge of layoffs, not MuskSpeed Read The White House has faced mounting complaints about DOGE's sweeping cuts
-
Rep. Sylvester Turner dies, weeks after joining HouseSpeed Read The former Houston mayor and longtime state legislator left behind a final message for Trump: 'Don't mess with Medicaid'
