REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
An Environmental Protection Agency ethics official says he lacked some “factual information” about Administrator Scott Pruitt’s lease agreement when he decided it didn’t violate ethics rules earlier this week. CNN obtained a memo from Kevin Minoli, the EPA ethics official, to General Counsel Matthew Leopold, stating that Minoli has questioned “whether the actual use of the space was consistent with the terms of the lease.” Pruitt rented the Capitol Hill condo in 2017 from the wife of an energy lobbyist, and his daughter also reportedly stayed there. Earlier this week, Minoli had said Pruitt’s $50-a-night rental payments made up “a fair-market rate.” Meanwhile, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told Fox News on Thursday that he “can’t speak to the future of Scott Pruitt.” According to Politico, he added, “I can just talk about where we are now and that is that the White House is aware of these reports.” When asked by reporters if he had confidence in Pruitt Thursday afternoon, President Trump told them, “I do” while boarding Air Force One.