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EPA employees were meeting regularly in Pruitt's office to "scratch", change or remove from Pruitt's official calendar many documents because they could "look bad", according to Kevin Chmielewski , former assistant chief of staff of Pruitt.
A CNN review comparing Pruitt's public calendar with EPA's internal schedules and e-mails shows that more than two dozen meetings, events or calls were omitted. his public calendar
Chmielewski says that some interactions have been intentionally suppressed. they occurred, such as meetings in June 2017 between Pruitt and Cardinal George Pell, who was charged several weeks later with several historical charges of sexual offenses. Pell pleaded not guilty
"We would have meetings what we were going to remove on the official schedule, we had at one time three different schedules of which one was the one that no one else n '' has seen except three or four of us, "Chmielewski told CNN. "It was a secret … and they decided what to remove from the public calendar."
Chmielewski says that he was forced to leave the EPA in February after raising questions about Pruitt's expenses and management.
It is true that the practice of keeping secret calendars and modifying or deleting records of meetings could violate federal law by "falsifying records" or hiding public records, according to legal experts interviewed by CNN.
"If someone changed, erased, spoiled a federal record in order to deceive the public or cheat someone, it could very well be a violation of federal law," Larry said. Noble, former general counsel of the federal government. Electoral Commission
Chmielewski says that Pruitt assistants will print sections of the private calendar containing details of events, will gather around a table, sometimes in Pruitt's office, and decide what will be omitted or changed in the public calendar. CNN has repeatedly asked the EPA to comment on the allegations.
Chmielewski's description of concealing controversial public events appears to be supported by discrepancies between Pruitt's public calendar posted on the EPA's website and internal schedules, e-mails and travel itineraries that have been published by the agency in response to requests for public records and lawsuits filed by the Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project
. other government officials – such as a lunch with Kellyanne Conway – others attended meetings with industry leaders and lawyers.
For example, Pruitt's EPA public calendar shows that his last meeting for the day of April 26, 2017 was with Minister of the Environment, but an internal calendar shows that later, the same day, he attended a dinner at the BLT Prime Craft Restaurant, which donated a million dollars to the inauguration of President Donald Trump and gave millions of additional dollars to candidates and to committees, mostly Republicans, argued in favor of dismantling. While Pruitt's public calendar indicates that he met with former Senator Trent Lott in September 2017, his internal calendar shows that the meeting also included Anthony Chiarello, then CEO of the shipping company. TOTE. Chiarello and Pruitt discussed TOTE ships and their fuel sources, according to documents and a spokesman for the TOTE.
Seven undisclosed meetings involved individuals appointed or considered for EPA positions
. the allegations and why the EPA calendar omits certain information from the internal records. The agency did not return messages or calls from CNN.
Chmielewski says that some events have been recorded in a "secret" calendar. made public in documents published by the EPA.
"All the time we spent at the Vatican was spent with Cardinal Pell, Cardinal Pell was basically our host, I mean, it was with whom we would meet us, "says Chmielewski. He said that in addition to dinner, Pruitt had two extra meetings with Pell that were not reported previously. One was a lunch with Pell. The other was part of a Vatican tour. Chmielewski said that he saw Pell greet Pruitt when Pruitt arrived at the Vatican, which is also supported by an internal EPA route that, at the time of Pruitt's arrival, states: " Will meet Cardinal Pell. "
He was charged in Australia with sexual assault and Pruitt's aides decided to remove Pell's name from the official EPA calendar, which has not yet been made public, said Chmielewski
. I alerted [top EPA staff] and it was at that point that we essentially removed it from the program we had met with Cardinal Pell, "said Chmielewski. Pell vigorously denied the charges.
Chmielewski said the EPA aides would disguise the details of certain Pruitt meetings or calls by calling them "staff briefing" on his public timetable.
William Ruckelshaus, EPA's first director to have been chosen by President Richard Nixon to become President Ronald Reagan's director, told CNN that he had begun publicly publishing the schedules. senior officials of the EPA. He stated that Pruitt should not meet with industry representatives or stakeholders without fully disclosing these interactions to the public
"This destroys trust, and these regulators need trust," he said. they do not have it, they have serious problems. "Ruckelshaus says.
Representatives of the former EPA administration Christine Todd Whitman (former Republican Governor of New Jersey) and Gina McCarthy told CNN that they were seeking to accurately publish all meetings and meetings. calls with industry and environmental stakeholders.
CNN's Sara Ganim, Rene Marsh, Juana Summers and Aaron Kessler contributed to this report.
Video by Collette Richards, Lee Burack, Raoul Alfonso and André Murphy.
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