Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt sat in a first class seat on a flight from Washington, D.C. to New York in June, which cost taxpayers $1,641.43, according to records obtained by the Washington Post through a public documents request.
Pruitt was accompanied by two aides on the flight who sat back in coach, and it’s unclear whether Pruitt’s security detail accompanied him in first class, according to the Washington Post.
Later the same week in early June, Pruitt and his staffers flew from Cincinnati to New York on a military plane in order to catch a flight to Rome, per the Post. The military jet flight cost $36,068.50, according to the Washington Post. Pruitt’s roundtrip travel to Rome to meet with papal officials and attend meetings in Bologna cost $7,003.52, according to the Washington Post.
That stretch in early June for Pruitt and his aides cost a total of $90,000.
EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman told the Washington Post that all of Pruitt’s air travel was approved by ethics officials.
Pruitt’s flights in early June are just the latest travel arrangements by an administration official to come under scrutiny. Tom Price resigned as Health and Human Services secretary in September after his frequent travel on non-commercial flights was reported by Politico. Several other administration officials, including Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
