Trumpland

Scott Pruitt Repeatedly Ordered His Drivers to Speed When He Was Running Late

SPEEDFREAK

The Trump-era EPA boss would get his security detail to use sirens and emergency lights on routine trips—even ordering them to drive into oncoming traffic.

GettyImages-991737600_sryhtx
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI

During his time running the Environmental Protection Agency in the Trump administration, Scott Pruitt repeatedly made his drivers speed when he was running late, according to a federal report published Thursday. His security officers were sometimes ordered to drive at dangerous speeds which “endangered public safety,” the report said, even on routine trips. On one occasion in 2017, a special agent was made to drive Pruitt in the wrong direction into oncoming traffic with the car’s siren and emergency lights blaring to collect Pruitt’s dry cleaning when he was late for a meeting. Agents knew Pruitt’s dangerous requests to “speed it up” broke federal policies but they found it “hard to disobey.” Reports of Pruitt’s misuse of emergency lights and sirens first broke in 2018, along with other allegations of wrongdoing, including using government cash to pay for first-class travel and a $43,000 secret secure phone booth in his office. He resigned in scandal in July 2018.

Read it at The New York Times