POLITICO: Pruitt huddled with coal exec who raised over $1M for Trump

“EPA has fought requests for Pruitt’s schedules, releasing them only when forced by lawsuits by environmental or government transparency organizations.”

CONTEXT:

Terrible POLITICO headline for Scott Pruitt on a day when the Washington Post reports that, amid unprecedented chaos at the White House and throughout the Trump administration, “Others considered at risk for being fired or reprimanded include” Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke.

Meanwhile: Pruitt is also angering and alienating GOPers on the Hill. Republican Reps Trey Gowdy and Greg Walden, chairs of the Oversight and Energy and Commerce committees, have been frustrated with Pruitt’s non-responsiveness to Congress.

EXCERPTS FROM POLITICO:

COAL EXEC / TRUMP DONOR MEETING:

“EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt met with an Indiana coal executive last year who was seeking to soften a pollution rule — and who once boasted about raising more than a million dollars for President Donald Trump’s campaign, according to … records, obtained by the Sierra Club through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, show that Steven Chancellor, CEO of White Stallion Energy, met with Pruitt on May 22, 2017 for a “courtesy call and introductory meeting."

“In addition to the Pruitt meeting, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's calendar showed a meeting with White Stallion earlier that day, although it is not clear that Chancellor personally attended that meeting.  But Zinke named Chancellor earlier this month to Interior's new International Wildlife Conservation Council, which will provide advice to Zinke on "the benefits that result from United States citizens traveling to foreign nations to engage in hunting." That council is scheduled to meet at the Interior Department on Friday.”

OTHER INDUSTRY AND GOP MEETINGS:

“The documents provided to POLITICO also showed that Pruitt met with dozens of industry executives and trade group representatives between the May 19 and June 19 period the calendar covered. And he had phone calls with GOP governors, attorneys general and lawmakers. He saw public health groups twice.”

ITALY TRIP -- WHAT WAS PRUITT DOING?

“The schedule released by EPA also did not reveal Pruitt's activities while representing the U.S. at a major international meeting in Italy, a trip that drew criticism because of its high travel costs and his policy of flying first class or business class.

Pruitt and his staff spent $36,000 on a military jet to New York to catch a plane to Rome following a last-minute invite to an infrastructure event in Cincinnati with Trump. Pruitt racked up another $7,000 in flight costs associated with the trip, including a business class ticket on the premium Emirates Airline.

The agency redacted information about meetings or events for two days of the trip and left another day's entries blank. The calendars offer no explanation for why Pruitt arrived several days early for the meeting of G-7 environment ministers. He spent the first part of his trip in Rome … ”

READ THE FULL IN-DEPTH PIECE ONLINE, VIA POLITICO