There doesn't seem to be any end to Trump-appointed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's crookedness. We just got over learning that Pruitt was using EPA staff to assist in getting his wife a cushy political job and that the cheapskate grifter ordered staffers to pay for his hotel stays using their own credit cards and then refused to pay them back.
Now we learn that the reason Pruitt's office has been dragging their feet in producing documents about his dozens of crooked actions is because the person in charge of producing those documents is one of his top political fundraisers, tossed into her new government position as yet another of Scott Pruitt's scams. Meet Elizabeth Beacham White.
Her name has not yet appeared on the office’s website, which describes part of the office’s mission as processing “Freedom of Information Act requests assigned to [the Office of the Administrator] and its staff offices. OEX coordinates search efforts, liaisons with the Office of General Counsel, and provides training to staff.” She appears in an employee directory that does not list her official position.
White's hire coincides with efforts to slow-walk or simply block the release of documents about who Pruitt has been contacting, the purpose of his many, many trips, and other basic information that watchdogs widely suspect will show—if possible—even more outrageous and crooked behavior than the dozens of things things we already know. Pruitt has instituted a new layer of political review for Freedom of Information Act requests, seeking to squelch production of documents about the man and his many financial shenanigans—and it is White, here, who is the “top official” in charge of it all.
There seems to be no opportunity for crookedness this man has yet to pass by, but let’s reflect; the use of government workers as his own personal butlers stands out as an act that has since forever been immediate cause for dismissal. It's the most crooked thing you can possibly do—with the possible exception of hiring your former fundraiser, also on the taxpayer dime, to help you cover up the records of you doing it.
Why does this jackass remain in his post? That Republicans continue to allow it is unbelievable. That even the Trump White House dares let him stay on after he has been exposed as so flagrantly corrupt is astonishing; if nothing else, you'd think they'd want to toss such a two-bit grifter of taxpayer funds just to make some passing midterm claim at not being crooks themselves. But no. No, he remains where he is, and nobody in the party is doing more than officially furrowing a few brows at his litany of scandals.
Instead, they continue to protect him. Republicans are staking a new claim as the folks who will cheat you out of every dime of taxes you've ever sent them, office-by-office, and claim to see no possible reason for concern when you catch them doing it. Check out Scott Pruitt, everyone; he's so crooked he uses government-paid workers to do his chores, pay for his hotel rooms, and be career counselors for his wife! Vote for us and we'll make sure every last member of the Republican administration is able to get away with the same thing!