After taking heat for spending thousands of dollars in taxpayer money for first-class flights, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has promised that his “very next flight” will be coach.
In an interview with a CBS News podcast released late Wednesday night, Mr. Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general, reiterated that he’d taken first-class tickets only because his security detail advised him it was safer to do so.
“There’s a change coming, because, look, the security threat matters,” he said. “What I’ve told them going forward is this: There is a change occurring, you’re going to accommodate the security threats as they exist, you’re going to accommodate those in all ways, alternate ways, up to and including flying coach, and that is what’s going to happen on my very next flight. So those things are happening right away.”
The EPA has refused to release a list of the security threats Mr. Pruitt has faced. At least one reported instance involved a passenger in coach shouting that Mr. Pruitt was “f — ing up the environment.”
Democrats and environmental groups have pounced on the administrator for the pricey flights, which came on the heels of other officials — such as former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price — also coming under fire for their travel habits.
Late last month, Republicans joined the chorus, with House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy sending a letter to the EPA seeking records on Mr. Pruitt’s travels. Specifically, Mr. Gowdy asked for more information on whether Mr. Pruitt had sought a so-called “blanket waiver” to fly first class.
“Clearly, federal regulations prohibit a blanket waiver to fly first class except to accommodate disabilities or special needs,” Mr. Gowdy wrote.
While both Mr. Pruitt and other EPA officials haven’t discussed specifics, the administrator reiterated to CBS News that he’s facing challenges his predecessors did not.
“There have been incidents in airports, and those incidents, you know, occurred and they are of different types, but here what I really wanted to try to convey to you is that these threats have been unprecedented from the very beginning and that the quantity and type are unprecedented,” he said.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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