Emails Show Pruitt Hatched Plan With Aide To Score Wife Chick-Fil-A Franchise

UNITED STATES - MAY 16: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies during a Senate Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing in Dirksen Building on the ... UNITED STATES - MAY 16: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies during a Senate Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing in Dirksen Building on the proposed FY2019 budget for the EPA on May 16, 2018. (Photo By Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call) MORE LESS
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Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt tried to score his wife, Marlyn Pruitt, a gig as a Chick-Fil-A franchisee, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

According to a slew of emails recently released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Sierra Club, Pruitt had his executive scheduler Sydney Hupp last May contact the president and chairman of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy, about a “potential business opportunity” with Pruitt.

Cathy, well-known for his support of conservative and Christian causes, has met Pruitt in the past and responded within an hour. A phone call was arranged between Pruitt, Cathy and a Chick-fil-A attorney, but that was later cancelled, according to the Post. Pruitt eventually had a phone call with a person in the company’s legal department, but the efforts did not prove fruitful for Marlyn Pruitt.

“Administrator Pruitt’s wife started, but did not complete, the Chick-fil-A franchisee application,” Chick-fil-A representative Carrie Kurlander told the Post.

According to multiple current and former EPA staffers who spoke to the Post, Pruitt was keen on Marlyn Pruitt finding a job at the time because of the expenses associated with having a house in Washington, D.C. and back in Oklahoma. And Pruitt didn’t halt efforts to find his wife work with the Chick-fil-A venture, either. Emails show he also reached out to the head of Concordia, a non-profit organization, last year, and Marlyn Pruitt was hired to help plan a conference for the organization last September, according to the Post.

Pruitt’s use of his official position and public aides to secure work for his wife is just one of several recent reports that’s ruffled ethics experts’ feathers.

Pruitt reportedly had his top aide, Millan Hupp, Sydney Hupp’s sister, help him search for housing for him and his wife during work hours. Millan Hupp also told lawmakers last month that Pruitt had her try to obtain a “used mattress” from the Trump International Hotel and asked her to book vacation flights for him during her personal time.

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Notable Replies

  1. Frog-march this grifting asshat out the very expensive doors…

  2. If he can keep his wife working he and Hupp can go on staining mattresses.

  3. Avatar for jinnj jinnj says:

    Pruitt - possibly more than any other cabinet member - appears convinced that this is all like some low-budget 1950’s “Shopping Extravaganza” game show and he gets some period of time to race through the market tossing stuff in his cart - and gets to take home whatever he sweeps up - until the buzzer sounds…
    it is lunacy!

  4. Well, I guess we know who is getting the North Korean burger franchise. When Pruitt becomes the Burger God Emperor, he will someone find a way to make N. Korea more polluted.

  5. When the water gets so deep in a swamp that everything is submerged does it become a lake?

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