US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has broken months of silence about his frequent premium-class flights at taxpayer expense, saying he needs to fly first class because of unpleasant interactions with other travelers.
Pruitt on Tuesday spoke about his flight costs in a pair of interviews in New Hampshire, following a first-class flight to meet with the state’s Republican governor and tour a toxic waste site.
Pruitt told the New Hampshire Union Leader he had some “incidents” on flights shortly after his appointment by US President Donald Trump last year.
Photo: Bloomberg
“We live in a very toxic environment politically, particularly around issues of the environment,” said Pruitt, who confirmed to the newspaper that he had flown first class from Washington to Boston before continuing on to New Hampshire. “We’ve reached the point where there’s not much civility in the marketplace and it’s created, you know, it’s created some issues and the [security] detail, the level of protection is determined by the level of threat.”
Pruitt is the first EPA administrator to have a 24-hour security detail that accompanies him at all times, even at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
He has also taken other security precautions, including the addition of a US$25,000 soundproof “privacy booth” to prevent eavesdropping on his phone calls and spending US$3,000 to have his office swept for hidden listening devices.
Pruitt said he was not involved in the decision for him to fly first class.
“There have been instances, unfortunately, during my time as administrator, as I’ve flown and spent time, of interaction that’s not been the best,” Pruitt told WMUR TV in Manchester, New Hampshire. “And, so, ingress and egress off the plane ... that’s all decisions all made by our [security] detail team, by the chief of staff, by the administration. I don’t make any of those decisions.”
Pruitt was asked about the issue following a Washington Post report on Sunday that detailed some of his travel expenses, including a US$1,641.43 first-class seat for a short flight in June from Washington to New York City. Pruitt’s ticket cost six times what the EPA paid for his aides seated in coach.
The Associated Press reported in July and again in December that spending on commercial airline tickets purchased for Pruitt indicated he was flying in premium-class seats. The EPA’s press office has repeatedly refused to comment on whether he was flying first class.
Federal regulations allow government travelers to fly business class or first class when no cheaper options are “reasonably available” or if there are exceptional security circumstances.
However, past federal audits have found that those rules have been routinely violated by high-ranking government officials under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Records show Pruitt has taken at least four flights on non-commercial aircraft, costing more than US$58,000.
The EPA has said all of those flights were necessary and pre-approved by ethics lawyers.
EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox did not immediately respond to questions about whether Pruitt had been granted similar waivers allowing him to fly premium class or about the past security incidents to which Pruitt referred.
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