Environmental Protection Agency chief andclimate alteration denierScott Pruitt , who has drawn increase amount of ire this month over stretches ofextremely expensive , often first - classtravel that he ’s justified ondubious security system grounds , will no longer go on a five - day trip to Israel .
Per theWashington Post , which originally broke the word of Pruitt ’s lower limit of $ 90,000 in taxpayer - fund upscale travelling , EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman secernate the paper on Sunday via email that “ We decide to postpone ; the administrator appear forward to going in the future . ”
The report reported Pruitt and backing staff from the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv were originally schedule to stay at the Jerusalem - establish King David Hotel for the duration of the trip , which would involve tours of a water recycling facility and a toxic waste matter site , as well as meetings with Israeli public and private sphere officials :
Israeli officials confirm that Pruitt ’s trip was official res publica business but could not say if the usual visits had been schedule . He had been slate to meet with Israel ’s Environment Minister Ze’ev Elkin , but the office of the Israeli minister , a senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s Likud party , confirmed that the merging had been canceled .
Neither the U.S. embassy in Israel nor the Israeli Foreign Ministry would comment on Pruitt ’s modification in plan .
In a prior interview with theNew Hampshire Union Leader , Pruitt claim that the “ very toxic environment politically , peculiarly around issues of the environs ” necessitated the high-priced flights . He also lay claim security staff , not him , had made those travelling arrangements in the interests of his own safety .
But prior EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman and members of Congress have repeatedly call into question Pruitt ’s security measure , which included charter a dozen new guard at areported costof $ 103,000-$162,000 pay apiece andbiometric locksfor his office . According to arecent account in Politico , EPA Office of Criminal Enforcement director Henry Barnet explain the incite broker may not have been dying threats , but citizenry who had been approaching Pruitt in airports “ being extremely rude , using profanities and potential for altercations and so forth . ” Barnet added one incident included a man who shout “ Scott Pruitt , you ’re f — ing up the environs , ’ those sort of terms . ”
Whether the cancellation of the misstep signals larger problems ahead for Pruitt than getting holler at by raging the great unwashed in the airport stay to be seen . Health and Human Services chief Tom Priceresigned in 2017after run up over $ 400,000 in flight costs . But EPA officials havechanged their explanationsof how the expenditure were justified under federal police , and the EPA ’s examiner general ’s office write an on-going investigation into the subject would only examinecharges scud up in 2017 , per Politico .
[ Washington Post ]
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