Trump EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Ordered Drivers To Speed, ‘Endangered Public Safety’

Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt “endangered public safety” by ordering federal security officers to drive sometimes dangerous speeds if he was running late, according to a federal report.

“Mr. Pruitt endangered public safety by routinely directing his [personal security detail] to use emergency lights and sirens and ‘excessive speed’ in non-emergency situations,” special counsel Henry Kerner wrote on Thursday in a letter to President Joe Biden.

The report also “included evidence that Pruitt directed an agent to ‘recklessly’ use lights and sirens while driving against oncoming traffic so that Mr. Pruitt could pick up his dry cleaning when he was already 35 minutes late to an EPA meeting,” Kerner added.

The report also mentioned that the security officers felt that they could not speak out against Pruitt. One agent lost their job after telling Pruitt that the lights and sirens should only be used in the case of an emergency.

“This action sent a clear message to the [protective security detail] that if you didn’t perform the bidding of the Administrator, you would lose your job,” a witness said in the report. “This idea made for many uncomfortable times where PSD agents were directed to use lights and sirens in violation of … policy and public safety.”

Pruitt left his position in 2018 after questions were raised surrounding the administrator’s potential ethics violations. Some of the allegations included using his position to obtain jobs for family members, excessively spending agency funds and installing a $43,000 soundproof room in his office. At the time he left his post, there were no reports of the traffic issue.