EPA/ETHICS/SCOTT PRUITT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt had a top aide seek a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel and perform other personal chores for him, including house-hunting and booking personal travel, according to testimony released Monday [6-4-18]. Millan Hupp’s transcribed interview last month before a panel of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee staffers marks the first public accounting from one of Pruitt’s closest aides on personal errands that she said the EPA chief had her do. The transcript was released Monday by committee Democrats. Asked about her email to managers of the Trump hotel at Pruitt’s request, Hupp said Pruitt was trying to get a used mattress..President Donald Trump has stood behind his embattled EPA chief, but this is the first time an ethical question surrounding Pruitt has touched on part of the president’s business empire… Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Gerald Connolly of Virginia called the errands a violation of federal law on gifts from subordinates and asked the majority to subpoena agency records they said were being withheld. They are the top Democrats on the House oversight committee and a subcommittee on government operations, respectively.”
-Ellen Knickmeyer and Michael Biesecker, “Aide: EPA’s Pruitt sought used Trump hotel mattress,” The Associated Press, June 4, 2018 3:35 pm