EPA chief spent millions on security and travel
WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt’s concern with his safety came at a steep cost to taxpayers as his swollen security detail blew through overtime budgets and at times diverted officers away from investigating environmental crimes.
Altogether, the agency spent millions of dollars for a 20-member full-time detail that is three times the size of his predecessor’s part-time security contingent.
New details in Pruitt’s expansive spending for security and travel emerged from agency sources and documents reviewed by The Associated Press. They come as the embattled EPA leader fends off allegations of profligate spending and ethical missteps that have imperiled his job.
Shortly after arriving in Washington, Pruitt demoted the career staff member heading his security detail and replaced him with EPA Senior Special Agent Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta, a former Secret Service agent who operates a private security company.
An EPA official with direct knowledge of Pruitt’s security spending says Perrotta oversaw a rapid expansion of the EPA chief’s security detail to accommodate guarding him day and night, even on family vacations and when Pruitt was home in Oklahoma. The EPA official spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
GOP Rep. Farenthold resigns after sexual harassment claims
WASHINGTON — Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold abruptly resigned Friday, four months after announcing he wouldn’t seek re-election amid sexual harassment allegations.
“While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it’s time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve,” Farenthold said in a video statement, adding that his action was effective as of 5 p.m.
In December, Farenthold had posted another video denying a former aide’s 2014 accusations, including that he’d subjected her to sexually suggestive comments and behavior and then fired her after she complained. Still, the congressman apologized in that video for an office atmosphere he said included “destructive gossip, offhand comments, off-color jokes and behavior that, in general, was less than professional.”
Capitol Hill has found itself in the center of a national reckoning over sexual misconduct and gender discrimination in the workplace. Since October, eight lawmakers have either resigned or abandoned re-election bids amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Some members and aides have complained about a patchwork system for reporting offenses and secrecy around settlements paid by lawmakers’ offices.
A ninth lawmaker, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, announced on Monday she will not seek re-election this year amid calls for her resignation over her handling of the firing of a former chief of staff accused of harassment, threats and violence against female staffers in her congressional office.
Trump, China escalate trade dispute as markets tumble
WASHINGTON — Unwilling to yield, President Donald Trump and China’s government escalated their trade clash Friday, with Beijing vowing to “counterattack with great strength” if Trump follows through on threats to impose tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods.
Trump made his out-of-the-blue move when China threatened to retaliate for the first round of tariffs planned by the United States. But for someone who has long fashioned himself as a master negotiator, Trump left it unclear whether he was bluffing or willing to enter a protracted trade war pitting the world’s two biggest economies against each other, with steep consequences for consumers, businesses and an already shaken stock market.
“They aren’t going to bully him into backing down,” said Stephen Moore, a former Trump campaign adviser who is now a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He said the Chinese “are going to have to make concessions — period.”
The White House sent mixed signals on Friday as financial markets slid from investor concern about a significant trade fight. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC he was “cautiously optimistic” that the U.S. and China could reach an agreement before any tariffs are implemented but added, “there is the potential of a trade war.”
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters the U.S. was “not in a trade war,” adding, “China is the problem. Blame China, not Trump.”
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Facebook says it should have audited Cambridge Analytica
NEW YORK — Facebook’s No. 2 executive says the company should have conducted an audit after learning that a political consultancy improperly accessed user data nearly three years ago.
Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told NBC’s “Today” show that at the time, Facebook received legal assurances that Cambridge Analytica had deleted the improperly obtained information.
“What we didn’t do is the next step of an audit and we’re trying to that now,” she said.
The audit of Cambridge Analytica is on hold, in deference to a U.K. investigation. But Facebook has been conducting a broader review of its own practices and how other third-party apps use data.
In addition, Facebook announced on Friday that it will require advertisers who want to run not just political ads, but also or so called “issue ads” —which may not endorse specific candidates or parties but discuss political topics— to be verified.
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Metal object in fatal police shooting was a welding torch
NEW YORK — Witnesses who called New York City police to report that a man was menacing people with a gun before police killed him were terrified but also uncertain whether the object the man had really was a gun, 911 transcripts released Friday show.
One caller Wednesday said, “He’s pointing a silver thing in a lady’s face.”
When the dispatcher asked if it was a gun, the caller said, “I don’t know if it’s a gun, ma’am. It seems like a gun. It’s silver.”
Police said the metal object Saheed Vassell was pointing at people was actually the head of a welding torch.
Officers responding to the 911 calls fired 10 shots at the 34-year-old Vassell, killing him.
