Three Democratic senators want the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) internal watchdog to examine reports that Administrator Scott Pruitt used his position to try to get work for his wife.
Democratic Sens. Tom Udall (N.M.), Tom Carper (Del.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) pointed to news this week that Pruitt tried to get his wife Marlyn a Chick-fil-A franchise and successfully got her an event-planning gig, saying they’re concerned that there may be other similar incidents.
“While reviews of public emails have turned up these two instances of Administrator Pruitt pursuing business opportunities for his family, we are concerned that there could be other, as yet unknown, business pursuits as well,” they wrote Wednesday to EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins.
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Elkins’s office is already looking into allegations that Pruitt used his staff at EPA for personal tasks, which could violate federal law.
“We would like you to either supplement that investigation or open a new one to review whether the administrator used his position — acting in his own capacity or through his official staff — to pursue private business opportunities to enrich himself or any members of his family regarding these two cases and any other financial opportunities for Administrator Pruitt’s family,” the Democrats wrote.
Pruitt has defended his unsuccessful work to get his wife a franchise of the chicken restaurant owned by an outspoken Christian family.
“I love, she loves — we love — Chick-fil-A as a franchise of faith and one of the best in the country,” Pruitt told Nextar Broadcasting Wednesday.
“We need more of them in Tulsa, we need more of them across the country.”