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EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt
- Two top aides to Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt are leaving their posts as scrutiny of Pruitt's leadership intensifies.
- Albert "Kell" Kelly, who was brought in to expedite toxic waste cleanups, resigned Tuesday amid criticism of his past work in banking in Oklahoma, where he was banned from the industry.
- Pasquale "Nino" Perrotta, Pruitt's security chief, announced Monday that he will retire amid probes into Pruitt's travel and security spending.
Albert "Kell" Kelly, a top aide to Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, who worked on toxic waste cleanups, resigned Tuesday amid criticism of his past work in banking in Oklahoma, where he was banned from the industry.
Kelly joins Pasquale "Nino" Perrotta, Pruitt's security chief, who announced Monday he will retire from his post as congressional scrutiny of Pruitt's spending on travel and security - and Perotta's role in the decision-making - intensifies.
Kelly, an old friend of Pruitt's from their home state of Oklahoma, was fined $125,000 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation before it banned him from banking entirely last year. The bank that Kelly ran, SpiritBank, loaned Pruitt money, including to purchase a home and partial ownership of a minor-league baseball team, The New York Times reported.
There is no evidence that any of the loans Pruitt received were connected to the settlement, and Pruitt told House lawmakers last week that he would "encourage" - but not compel - Kelly to release more details of the deal he reached with the FDIC to Congress.
"Kell Kelly's service at EPA will be sorely missed. In just over a year he has made a tremendous impact on EPA's Superfund program," Pruitt said in a statement Tuesday.
Perotta, who ran Pruitt's 20-person security team and often traveled with the administrator, was planning to retire in July, but moved up his departure date. Perotta is personally facing scrutiny for his recommendation that Pruitt hire a 24-hour security team three times the size of his predecessor's, which has cost the government $3 million over the last year.
Perotta also facilitated a $3,000 security sweep of Pruitt's office by colleague at his outside consulting group, and pushed for a bullet-proof desk for Pruitt's office as well as a bullet-proof vehicle, and helped facilitate Pruitt's regular first-class travel.
The former Secret Service agent is scheduled to meet with investigators from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday. Perotta told ABC News that he planned to cooperate with the investigation (his retirement means the agency's inspector general cannot mandate him to cooperate).
"All of this press is taking a toll on my family," Perrotta, who's worked at the EPA since 2004, told ABC on Tuesday. "I decided to move on, and it's been an honor to serve."