Pruitt enjoyed cushy condo deal through wife of a top energy lobbyist

Another day, another Scott Pruitt ethics scandal. News recently surfaced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator rented an apartment in 2017 for a suspiciously low fee of $50 per night, about a third of what similar rooms go for in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. A coowner of the condo is Vicki Hart, who is married to J. Steven Hart, a top energy lobbyist. Ethics rule typically bar executive branch employees from receiving outside gifts to prevent conflicts of interest. Hart claims he and Pruitt are only “casual friends,” despite his donations to Pruitt's previous campaigns as Oklahoma attorney general and his throwing a fundraising event for Pruitt in 2014. Disclosure forms show that Hart's firm, Williams & Jensen, represents Oklahoma Gas & Electric, which is currently pushing for the EPA to weaken its rules on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. You don’t say.