HMM

Report: Head of Pruitt’s Security Detail Also Worked for Trump-Friendly Tabloid

Secret Service agent Pasquale Perrotta moonlighted for National Enquirer parent when Karen McDougal negotiated NDA.

The man heading Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s security detail moonlighted for Trump-friendly publisher American Media Inc. during the 2016 presidential campaign, The New York Times reports. The security official, former Secret Service agent Pasquale Perrotta, reportedly provided physical security, cybersecurity, and investigative services to AMI—at around the same time the company was busy securing former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s silence on an alleged affair with Donald Trump with a $150,000 nondisclosure agreement. It was not immediately clear how long Perrotta was involved with the company. While Perrotta received a waiver from the EPA to hold outside employment under the Obama administration, his stint with the tabloid has renewed conflict-of-interest concerns, as AMI’s financial dealings ahead of Election Day have now become part of a federal inquiry into the business dealings of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. The chairman of AMI, David Pecker, is thought to be a close friend of Trump.