ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/WASHINGTON- - P resident Donald Trump said on Thursday he would take a look into ethics allegations against Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt over his condo lease and other issues, but added the official was doing a "fantastic job."
Pruitt has loyally executed Trump's deregulatory agenda with plans to roll back Obama-era programmes cutting emissions from power plants and vehicles. His efforts to slash regulations have helped make Trump popular in coal, natural gas, and oil-producing states.
"I think that Scott has done a fantastic job," Trump told reporters on Air Force One after a trip to West Virginia. "I just left coal and energy country. They love Scott Pruitt."
Still, Trump said he would make a determination about the ethics issues. The White House is probing Pruitt's lease of a room in a high-end Washington neighbourhood for $50 a night in a townhouse co-owned by the wife of energy industry lobbyist Steven Hart, who lobbies for companies regulated by the EPA.
Pruitt has told the Washington Examiner in an interview that he was "dumbfounded" his renting of the room in a townhouse was controversial and said his ethics officials reviewed the lease. But the EPA's ethics office suggested there still could be questions about Pruitt's housing arrangement.
Pruitt, a vocal doubter of mainstream climate change science, also is facing criticism for frequent first-class air travel, spending on costly items in his office, including a $43,000 soundproof telephone booth, and for a trip to Morocco in which he promoted U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas.
While Trump appears to support Pruitt, the president can be fickle. Last autumn, Trump said he had confidence in Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, even after their relationship was strained by differences of opinion on Iran and Russia policy. Trump fired Tillerson in March.
In late March, the EPA's ethics office cleared Pruitt of accepting an illegal gift from a lobbyist with the condo lease, saying a number of other rooms nearby were available for rent for a similar or lower price. But the office issued a memo, dated on Wednesday and seen by Reuters, that the earlier review did not consider whether Pruitt had violated other ethics rules with the lease.
