WASHINGTON--President Donald Trump on Saturday defended his embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, and said the official's travel and security expenses were reasonable.
Taxpayers have paid more to protect Pruitt than past EPA chiefs but those expenses are justified since Pruitt has been under threat, Trump wrote. "Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA," Trump wrote.
The costs of Pruitt's security detail have come under scrutiny recently as have the costs of his travel and housing in Washington. Trump defended those costs, too. "Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!" Trump wrote.
The head of a congressional oversight panel is investigating Pruitt's use of a condominium tied to an energy lobbyist, an aide said on Saturday. The House of Representatives Oversight Committee, chaired by Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, has begun looking into Pruitt's housing arrangements, according to the aide, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
On Friday, an EPA spokesman said Pruitt has faced "unprecedented" threats and security has been costly. "Americans should all agree that members of the President's cabinet should be kept safe," said EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox.
Gowdy's probe adds to the pressure on Pruitt, a vocal critic of mainstream climate change science who sued the EPA more than a dozen times when he was Oklahoma's attorney general. Many Democrats and even a few Republicans have said he should resign or be fired.
