Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt flew first class on only a handful of occasions while serving as attorney general of Oklahoma, according to documents obtained by The Oklahoman.
Between 2012 and 2017, when he was serving as the state’s attorney general, Pruitt flew first class on four out of 80 trips, the newspaper reported on Wednesday.
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The number is notably smaller than the number of times he has flown first class as the head of EPA. The Washington Post first reported in February that Pruitt had racked up tens of thousands of dollars in travel costs while serving in the Trump administration.
Following the Post’s report, Pruitt defended his first-class travel, citing security concerns in the current “toxic” political environment.
The thousands of pages of travel logs and expense reports obtained by The Oklahoman also found that he had spent $35,761 on airfare and other related expenses while serving as the state’s attorney general.
The most expensive of the four noncoach flights was $999, when Pruitt travelled roundtrip in 2014 on business-select from Tulsa to the site of the Conference of Western Attorneys General in Salt Lake City.
In February, EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said that Pruitt had been granted a “blanket waiver” to fly first class due to security concerns. The agency later walked back the statement and said Pruitt has received case-by-case approval to fly first class.
Last week Pruitt announced that his next flight would be on coach.