Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt reportedly did not have a permanent Washington, D.C., address for a month after he left the $50-a-day condo he was renting from the wife of a top energy lobbyist.
After Pruitt ended his housing arrangement in August, he appears to not have kept a D.C. residence and instead traveled for work and stayed at his home in Tulsa for weeks, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
In that time, he took an extended vacation during which he had knee surgery and recuperated at home while still working, before returning to EPA headquarters in D.C. on Sept. 5, according to the Post.
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The EPA refused to say when Pruitt began renting his new apartment in D.C., but the new building he moved to was under construction during most of the summer and didn’t have residents move in until Aug. 29, the Post reported.
Pruitt has faced scrutiny in recent days after the condo news broke and The New York Times reported that a Canadian client of the lobbying firm linked to Pruitt’s housing arrangement had its project approved last March.
Both the EPA and the Canadian company have denied any wrongdoing.
Pruitt also has faced criticism for taking numerous first-class flights and for installing expensive security measures at his EPA office.
Earlier this week, The Atlantic reported that he had asked the White House to give significant raises to two of his staff members, something Pruitt denied on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday said the president thinks Pruitt has done a good job but noted that the administration is looking into Pruitt’s actions.