Scott Pruitt may be in hot water again—now for renting an apartment from the wife of an energy lobbyist who's had business with the Environmental Protection Agency, CNN reports. Pruitt, who heads the EPA, leased a room in the Washington, DC, condo for just $50 a night on nights he stayed there in 2017, according to checks reviewed by Bloomberg. Total cost over six months: $6,100, which CNN calls "significantly lower than market value." The condo is co-owned by lobbyist Vicki Hart, whose husband Steven Hart is chair of Williams & Jensen, a firm with energy clients including Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. and natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy Inc.
Back in Oklahoma, the couple donated to Pruitt's career as a state official, with Steven hosting a fundraiser for his 2014 run for attorney general. Now in Washington, Pruitt is fighting to roll back Obama-era regulations designed to limit air pollution and climate change. "It's not good," says a White House source of the condo revelation. Pruitt has already raised eyebrows for demanding 24-hour security, apparently even on non-official trips back home to Tulsa. The White House hasn't commented, but aides were apparently upset to learn about the condo story from the media. "People are freaking out" about negative Pruitt stories, an EPA source tells CNN, adding that Pruitt's "goose is cooked." (More Environmental Protection Agency stories.)