Many of the agents told the investigators that they had felt pressured by Pruitt to use the lights and sirens, describing him “as perpetually late and successful in convincing younger agents” to violate agency policy that they be used only in emergencies. The Government Accountability Office had separately concluded in 2018 that the construction of the soundproof booth, which Pruitt intended to use to make secret calls, broke federal law because the spending had not been properly budgeted.īut the formal investigation by the EPA’s criminal division into the improper use of lights and sirens on federal government cars - an inquiry that included interviews with at least five EPA special agents as well as Pruitt’s deputy chief of staff - had never been released. The report recommended that the agency try to recover the money, although the EPA said it had no intention of doing so. The EPA’s inspector general issued a report in 2019 confirming that Pruitt had spent nearly $124,000 on “excessive” travel arrangements, including first-class flights and visits to his home in Oklahoma. Pruitt “engaged in improper and excessive spending of agency funds on travel and security used his official position for his personal benefit and the personal benefit of certain EPA staffers and endangered public safety,” the letter said, citing the complaints filed by the whistleblowers, who were onetime agency employees. Office of Special Counsel sent to President Joe Biden summarizing findings from several years of investigations by the EPA into allegations raised by four federal government whistleblowers. The report, by the EPA’s criminal enforcement division, was released Thursday as part of a letter the U.S. Senate in Oklahoma and previously served as the state’s attorney general, did not respond to a request for comment. Pruitt, who is now running as a Republican for the U.S. But until now, an internal EPA report that substantiated the allegations about the abusive use of lights and sirens on his government-issued car had never been made public, even though it was completed a month before Pruitt resigned.
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