Lobbyist Helped Plan Pruitt’s $100K Morocco Trip, Profited After

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 26: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with the members of the National Governors Association in the State ... WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 26: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with the members of the National Governors Association in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, Feb. 26, 2018. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s December trip to Morocco, replete with luxury hotel stays and seemingly devoid of much department-related work, was planned and executed by a lobbyist who later won a lucrative contract with the Moroccan government, according to a Tuesday Washington Post report.

Richard Smotkin, a former Comcast lobbyist and longtime Pruitt friend, was reportedly unusually involved in the planning of the $100,000 four-day trip, raising eyebrows about the ethical connotations of Smotkin profiting off of his friendship with Pruitt in the administrator’s governmental capacity. He later accompanied Pruitt on most of the stops on the trip.

Per the Washington Post, Pruitt and his team maintain that the trip was planned to arrange a trade relationship with Morocco, and that the administrator was unaware of Smotkin’s deep ties to the Moroccan government at the time.

Correction: This post originally reported that the trip cost $10,000. 

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  1. Hold on a few minutes! Give me a little bit of time so I can put on my “Oh, I am soooo shocked!” face.

  2. I think the trip cost more than $100,000 not $10,000. The headline and story need to be reviewed.

  3. Grifters gonna grift. Then they are going to blame the poor for the economic issues facing the nation and cut much needed programs or regulations they feel are stifling the economic growth.

    Then back to grifting…

  4. Avatar for drf55 drf55 says:

    Pruitt is full of crap. He’s not the trade representative or Secretary of Commerce, so making trade deals is far outside his jurisdiction.

  5. What does it take?
    What does it take?

    A department, a department head and a congress void of any shame whatsoever.
    It is my sincere hope that prosecutions ensue when we get back the congress

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