May, 07 2018, 12:00am EDT
PRUITT EXPOSED: Sierra Club Secures 24,000 Pages of EPA Emails, Call Logs and Documents
Bombshells abound in giant trove of senior agency communications.
WASHINGTON
The Sierra Club has secured over 24,000 pages of EPA emails, calls logs, and documents which expose the culture of corruption in and around Scott Pruitt at the EPA through successful litigation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The release comes in the wake of today's White House briefing, during which Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the White House has confidence in the EPA's #2, but failed to say whether it has any confidence at all in Scott Pruitt. Instead, the only reference to Pruitt was that "I don't have any personnel announcements at this time."
*** THE FULL SET OF DOCUMENTS, IN SEARCHABLE FORMAT, IS ONLINE HERE ***
Among the lowlights:
- Confirmation from staff that, indeed, "Le Diplomate is his favorite!" [Sydney Hupp Doc, Page 1131-1132]
- Confirmation of endless meetings between senior political aides and corporate polluters [See, in particular, the Samantha Dravis Document correspondence and meetings]
- Revelations that Pruitt and two staffers had dinner at the Luxurious Hotel Eden in Rome while there for work (Raising questions of if they had the EUR280 per person "Harmony Tasting Menu with Wine Pairing"? -- and, if so, who paid?). [Millan Hupp Document, Pages, 676-682 & 800-810]
- Emails details more fishy connections between Pruitt fundraisers, prominent Oklahoman business people, climate denial organizations abroad and more. [See the Sydney Hupp Document, Pages 1312-1316, detailing interactions between Pruitt staffer Sydney Hupp, Todd Dobson, Tamara Hyatt Cornell, Paul D. Tosetti and the Global Warming Policy Foundation, UK.]
- Lengthy emails detailing the extent to which a former lobbyist planned every detail of Scott Pruitt's trip to Australia [Millan Hupp Documents, Pages 45-56; 51; 170-176; 275-279; 332-333; 619-620]
- According to the New York Times, "the documents provide new indications ... that the concern with secrecy is less about security than a desire by Mr. Pruitt to avoid criticism from detractors or even unexpected questions from allies."
- More corroborating evidence of the involvement of Richard Smotkin in planning Pruitt's Morocco trip. [Millan Hupp Document, Pages 112-113; Page 364; 431-434; 439-441; 529-531; 640-642]
- AND... FAR, FAR MORE.
In Response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune Released the Following Statement:
"Under the law these documents should have been forthcoming, but we had to take Pruitt to court to get them, and now it's clear why. These documents expose a deeply rooted culture of corruption surrounding Scott Pruitt and his dealings in essentially every aspect of his job. Scott Pruitt doesn't live in the swamp -- he is the swamp -- and he should resign, or be fired immediately."
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