Scott Pruitt broke spending laws to get his infamous soundproof booth

Scott Pruitt’s infamous soundproof booth, an early indicator of the EPA chief’s high-spending tendencies, is under scrutiny again, for breaking several spending laws.

The Government Accountability Office said Monday that the EPA didn’t follow proper notification rules when they went ahead with the $43,000 secure, soundproof phone booth, installed in his office last fall.

In an eight-page letter to ranking members of congressional appropriations and environmental committees, GAO general counsel Thomas H. Armstrong explained that the EPA failed to notify the proper channels that they’d spent well over the $5,000 limit for furnishing or redecorating offices. The letter also states that the EPA violated the Antideficiency Act because it used the money “in a manner specifically prohibited by law.” The letter called for the EPA to report its Antideficiency Act violation, which is required by law, as soon as possible.

The EPA denies that they did anything wrong. They argued that the customized phone booth wasn’t technically part of Pruitt’s office, and shouldn’t be limited to the $5,000 cap. But the GAO report noted that the EPA itself says the booth is located in a former storage closet inside Pruitt’s office — and that there are plenty of other places for the EPA administrator to take private calls.

The GAO specified that this isn’t a ruling on whether Pruitt should have installed the phone booth to begin with, but that the EPA should have gone through the correct channels to do so.

“We draw no conclusions regarding whether the installation of the privacy booth was the only, or the best, way for EPA to provide a secure telephone line for the Administrator,” he wrote. “EPA’s failure to make the necessary notification is the only subject of this opinion.”

This comes at an already trying time for the agency. Pruitt is currently entangled in several mounting scandals: He used a loophole to increase staff salaries, traveled on first class flights and private jets on the taxpayer dime, and stayed in an energy lobbyist’s condo on Capitol Hill for $50 a night, just to name a few. His top aides are resigning, and sources have told the Associated Press that his situation is “unsustainable.”

Cover image: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt waves to members of the audience as he arrives for a news conference at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, on his decision to scrap Obama-era fuel standards. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)