EPA inspector general recommends recouping $124K from former administrator Scott Pruitt for 'excessive' travel costs

The Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog recommended Thursday that the agency should consider recovering nearly $124,000 in “excessive” costs from former administrator Scott Pruitt for his first-class travel. The $123,942 identified by EPA’s inspector general represents taxpayer money spent on flying Pruitt and a security officer in first or business class, instead of coach. “The exception that allowed for the [first class] travel accommodation was granted without sufficient justification and, initially, without appropriate approval authority,” the inspector general said in explaining its reasoning for why the spending was “excessive.”

The EPA inspector general's office issued the report nearly a year after Pruitt resigned as head of the EPA after a series of controversies that overshadowed his year of leading President Trump’s deregulatory agenda. When he resigned, Pruitt was the subject of at least a dozen federal investigations, over issues including his $50-per-night condo rental deal with the wife of an energy lobbyist who had business before the EPA, spending millions on his 24-hour security detail, frequent first-class travel, reports he retaliated against employees who questioned his judgment, and more. Pruitt deflected criticism of his travel habits by saying he faced “unprecedented” security threats from taunting travelers opposed to his agenda, which prompted EPA career security staff to grant him waivers to sit in first class.

The EPA continues to defend Pruitt, releasing a statement Thursday justifying his first-class travel, and saying it would be “inappropriate” to recover the $123,942 that the inspector general recommended. The inspector general report reviewed 40 trips that Pruitt either took or scheduled during a 10-month period from March 1, 2017, to Dec. 31, 2017, costing $985,037 in total. Of those 40 trips, 16 included “travel to, or stops in, Oklahoma,” Pruitt’s home state.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/epa-inspector-general-recommends-recouping-124k-from-former-administrator-scott-pruitt-for-excessive-travel-costs

Michigan farm's use of E-Verify in question after two undocumented employees killed coworker

The two Mexican citizens who murdered a coworker at a Michigan business last summer were in the country illegally and worked for a dairy farm that was a registered user of the federal government’s E-Verify system, aimed at preventing unauthorized immigrants from attaining work, according to a federal law enforcement official and government data. Siblings Francisca Vargas-Castillo and Leobardo Torres-Castillo separately entered plea deals in Michigan’s Sanilac County Circuit Court earlier this month for the death of Bricia Flores-Rivera, who had worked with the two at a farm north of Detroit.

The deceased victim, Flores-Rivera, had also been illegally present. A DHS official said the department does not know when the three entered the U.S. and how long they had been in the country. Flores-Rivera’s body was found by a local law enforcement officer in Buel Township, Mich., Sept. 1, 2018. Her body was retrieved from a culvert, a tunnel meant to carry water under a road or railroad. A witness at the trial said the siblings believed Flores-Rivera was trying to poison Vargas-Castillo’s children and seduce her husband. Vargas-Castillo had asked her brother to help her confront the woman. The witness said she drove the siblings to a trailer in Marlette Township, Mich., and was told to park in a cornfield behind the trailer but observed Torres-Castillo beat the woman with a stick before Vargas-Castillo then began stabbing the victim. Vargas-Castillo admitted to second-degree murder, tampering with evidence in a criminal manner, and concealing the death of an individual. Her brother, Torres-Castillo, confessed to charges of assault with intent to do greater bodily harm less than murder and the tampering and concealing charges. Both will be sentenced June 26.

The two assailants and one victim had worked for Goma Dairy Farm in Marlette, Mich. The company was founded in 1999 by Geert and Gertie van den Goor. The married couple moved from the Netherlands to the U.S. and were recognized in 2014 as the Michigan farm of the year. The company is a registered user of E-Verify, an online tool that allows employers to input a new hire’s driver’s license and Social Security information in order to verify the person’s identity is legitimate and eligible for work.

E-Verify was rolled out as a pilot program by the Clinton administration in 1996 and is now administered by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employers must register with USCIS to use the system. Employers can choose whether or not to sign up. Knowingly hiring an undocumented immigrant is a federal crime. A list of E-Verify participants shows Goma Dairy Farm is a registered user of E-Verify, though it’s not clear how long it has used the system. The owners were not able to be reached for comment.

A USCIS representative told the Washington Examiner that being a registrant does not necessarily mean a company used the system before hiring employees. “The search tool only includes employers who are registered to use E-Verify, so all employers listed in the search tool are registered users of the service,” the official wrote in an email. The DHS official said the two siblings may have used stolen documents, fake documents, or not actually been cleared through E-Verify — similar to what happened in the hiring of an unauthorized Mexican immigrant who is on trial in Iowa for the murder of a college student that also took place last summer.

The murder of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts became a national story after an unauthorized immigrant from Mexico was charged with her death. Tibbetts went missing in July and her body was found in late August. Tibbetts' alleged killer, Cristhian Rivera, was employed at the time by Yarrabee Farms in Brooklyn, Iowa. Initially, the farm owner said he ran Rivera’s credentials through E-Verify at the time he was hired. However, farm co-owner and manager Dane Long later clarified that he ran the state-issued photo identification card and Social Security card that Rivera provided through a separate database, the Social Security Number Verification Service. Rivera had used documents that belonged to a “John Budd” and was cleared by the SSN checker as being a legitimate identity eligible to work. "We learned that our employee was not who he said he is,” said Lang.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/michigan-farms-use-of-e-verify-in-question-after-two-undocumented-employees-killed-coworker

Nellie Ohr deleted emails sent from husband's DOJ account

Nellie Ohr, the wife of Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, told her husband she was deleting emails sent from his government account. The revelation comes as both Ohrs remain under intense scrutiny for their ties to Fusion GPS and British ex-spy Christopher Steele, the author of the anti-Trump dossier that was used to obtain warrants to wiretap a member of President Trump's 2016 campaign.

Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained a series of April 2016 emails from a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department that show a correspondence between the Ohrs, an aide to Bruce Ohr named Lisa Holtyn, and Stefan Bress, a first secretary at the German Embassy. They discussed setting up a dinner for the German delegation as well as a meeting to discuss Russian organized crime. Included in a proposed agenda is the “Impact of Russian influence operations in Europe (‘PsyOps/InfoWar’).”

On April 20, responding to the email thread with the subject line, “Analyst Russian Organized Crime – April 2016," came the email from Nellie Ohr about deleting the emails. "Thanks! I’m deleting these emails now," she said. Bruce Ohr was an associate deputy attorney general and director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force while his wife Nellie was an independent contractor and Russia specialist.

Emails previously released by Judicial Watch show Bruce Ohr acting as an unofficial back channel between the FBI and Steele. He was demoted when it was revealed he met with Steele and Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which commissioned Steele's work. Ohr also told lawmakers his wife shared a thumb drive with him to hand over to the FBI. The dossier, which contained unverified claims about Trump's ties to Russia, has been a subject of concern for GOP lawmakers, particularly for how it was used by the FBI in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant applications to gain the authority to spy on onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Nellie Ohr conducted research on connections between Russia and Trump, having been contracted by Fusion GPS.

Both Ohrs testified last year to a joint task force of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees that were investigating decisions made by the Justice Department and FBI surrounding the 2016 election. This month, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., sent a criminal referral addressed to Attorney General William Barr, citing concerns that Nellie Ohr "knowingly provided false testimony" to lawmakers. Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said that Nellie Ohr informing her husband about deleting the emails indicates a pattern of covering up a plot against Trump. “This email is disturbing and suggests documents relevant to the improper targeting of President Trump were destroyed,” Fitton said in a statement.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/nellie-ohr-deleted-emails-sent-from-husbands-doj-account

Deleted Emails

http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/JW-v-DOJ-Ohr-Steele-Fusion-GPS-00490-pg-247-251.pdf

EPA rejects auditor’s call to recoup $124,000 in travel costs from ex-boss Pruitt

Months after he resigned as administrator of the EPA over concerns about his business and first-class travel, a watchdog has recommended that the agency consider recovering $124,000 in extra costs — likely from Scott Pruitt himself. But in a brief memo responding to the Office of Inspector General, the Environmental Protection Agency rejected that recommendation, and said what it has claimed all along, that every trip was approved and valid. “EPA believes that the trips were authorized by an appropriate official, making cost recovery inappropriate,” the agency said following the release of the inspector general’s 78-page report.

The report and the release revealed a fight between the auditors and top administrators. Several times in the audit report each side said that it disagreed with the other. But in the end, the auditor left the decision to recover $123,942 to the EPA and the agency said no. In almost every section of the report where the inspector general suggested that there were no or inadequate approval of seats upgrades, better hotels, stops in his home of Tulsa, Okla., and added security, the agency said there was, and it provided some documents to prove its point.

Pruitt resigned in July, the subject of several ethics probes promoted by the media and Democrats. He had the support of President Trump to the end because he fought often with environmental groups. The probe looked at Pruitt’s travels and found that $123,942 was spent over what the inspector general believes should have been spent for Pruitt, his staff, and security to make 34 trips, and cancel six others. The cost was $985,000. The agency has a $8.8 billion budget. The inspector general’s release expressed frustration with EPA. “The OIG made a total of 14 recommendations, of which 10 are unresolved. Overall, actions need to be taken to strengthen controls over agency travel to help prevent the potential for future fraud, waste and abuse,” it said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/epa-rejects-auditors-call-to-recoup-124-000-in-travel-costs-from-ex-boss-pruitt

_epaoig_20190516-19-p-0155

https://www.scribd.com/document/410331835/epaoig-20190516-19-p-0155#from_embed

Pelosi: Trump not authorized to use military force in Iran

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned the Trump administration Thursday that it lacks congressional authority to use military force against Iran amid reports his aides are calling for military mobilization to respond to new threats in the region. “They have no authority to go forward in any way,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters. Pelosi and Senate Democratic leaders are seeking a congressional briefing from the Trump administration about Iran. A small group of bipartisan leaders will receive a classified briefing Thursday, and it’s likely the Trump administration will provide an all-Congress briefing in the coming days.

Lawmakers have grown increasingly wary of new military action abroad. Congress last authorized the use of military force nearly two decades ago. They’ve been reluctant to revisit the issue but at the same time many don’t want the United States engaged in new military action abroad. Pelosi said the 2001 vote authorizing the war in Afghanistan does not greenlight action in the Middle East. “The responsibility in the constitution is for Congress to declare war,” Pelosi said. “So, I hope the president’s advisers recognize they have no authority to go forward in any way."

The Trump administration said Iran has acted in a threatening manner to U.S. interests in the region. The U.S. moved an aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf, and ordered the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Iraq following perceived threats from neighboring Iran and photos showing Iranians loading missiles on to boats in the gulf.

The New York Times reported the military is planning to mobilize 120,000 troops to deploy to the Middle East if Iran attacks U.S. interests in the Middle East. Trump called the report “fake news” but said the U.S. would respond if attacked by Iran. Pelosi praised reports suggesting Trump wants to avoid engaging in a conflict in the Middle East, and she noted the two of them had shared opposition to the Iraq War. “I like what I hear from the president, that he has no appetite for this,” Pelosi said, calling on him to maintain that attitude, “even though some of his supporters are rattling sabers.”

Shortly after Pelosi's press conference, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., praised Trump's approach. "Any action this administration takes will be thoughtful, we'll look through, and will be in consultation with the House and the Senate," McCarthy said. "What has transpired today is the administration is trying to make sure there is not [a military response]. It's sending a very clear message to Iran. B-52s are being sent there, aircraft carriers. … The administration is taking actions to make sure that question is not raised," he added.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/pelosi-trump-not-authorized-to-use-military-force-in-iran

FBI was 'worried' about J. Edgar Hoover analogies when James Comey briefed Trump on dossier

Former FBI General Counsel James Baker said the bureau was worried that former FBI Director James Comey would appear to be “blackmailing” then-President-elect Donald Trump during a January 2017 briefing at Trump Tower on some of the most salacious allegations in the dossier written by British ex-spy Christopher Steele. Sitting down with Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News for a "Skullduggery" podcast released on Wednesday, Baker said that prior to Comey’s meeting with Trump, the FBI was “quite worried” that it might seem like J. Edgar Hoover-style “blackmail” if Comey told Trump about some of the more salacious claims in the dossier, which Comey ended up doing. “Jim [Comey] and I had talked many times about the Hoover days, especially the investigation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., what was done there, the blackmailing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Baker said. “So yeah, we were quite worried about that, quite worried about how that would come off.” Hoover was the very first director of the FBI.

The dossier, packed with unverified claims about President Trump's ties to Russia, formed a key part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications used to justify surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Isikoff pointed out that Comey was “going to present to Trump the information from the Steele dossier that there are allegations that he was consorting with prostitutes in Moscow.” Isikoff said that was a "pretty sensational and salacious allegation” and he asked, “Was there a full discussion about the wisdom of doing that knowing that you had not verified that allegation?” Baker said the FBI discussed it and that he believed Trump needed to be told about the allegations in the dossier. “I came down on it that it had to be briefed to the president-elect significantly because it was about to be disclosed in the press,” Baker said. “To me, that was sort of the driving factor at the end of the day.”

The meeting between Trump, Comey, and other top intelligence officials took place on Jan. 6, 2017, and it was quickly leaked to the press. On the afternoon of Jan. 10, 2017, CNN ran a story about the meeting titled “Intel chiefs presented Trump with claims of Russian efforts to compromise him.” Later that evening, BuzzFeed posted Steele’s dossier online with the title “These Reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties To Russia.” Baker, who said that the FBI took the dossier "seriously … but not literally", defended the decision to tell Trump about some of Steele’s unverified allegations. “We thought, I thought, it would be inappropriate not to brief the president-elect, because we knew about this information already to some degree,” Baker said. “And for him to find out later that we knew about this and when up there and give him a briefing on a related topic and didn’t at least alert him to the fact that this information was out there and that we hadn’t verified it yet.” Isikoff pressed Baker on this, asking, “But did you talk about how this was likely to be received by Donald Trump himself knowing who he his and what his mindset is? You’re the FBI — you know, the legacy of J. Edgar Hoover blackmailing lots of people over many decades — that that is how this would come off?” Baker said the FBI’s didn’t want the briefing on the dossier to seem like blackmail and that Comey tried to avoid that appearance. Baker said that “we were quite worried about the [J. Edgar] Hoover analogies and were determined not to have such a disaster happen on our watch.” Baker said that they tried to frame the dossier’s allegations like this: “Sir, we have this information, it came to us in a particular way, the press has it, it’s about to come out, you should be alerted to that fact, we don’t want to proceed on this basis without you being aware of these facts.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/fbi-was-worried-about-j-edgar-hoover-analogies-when-james-comey-briefed-trump-on-dossier

>>6514359

Just goes to show how deep this really is.