CREW requests EPA records on Pruitt at Trump Hotel

CREW requests:

1. Copies of all records documenting who paid for Administrator Pruitt’s dinner at BLT Prime in the Trump International Hotel – Washington, DC with the board of directors of Alliance Resource Partners LP on April 26, 2017
2. Copies of all records documenting payments made by EPA to BLT Prime and/or the Trump International Hotel – Washington, D.C., in relation to Administrator Pruitt’s April 26, 2017 dinner as well as all records seeking reimbursement for expenses incurred at BLT Prime and/or the Trump International Hotel – Washington, D.C.
3. Copies of all communications to or from Administrator Pruitt, Senior Advisor Lincoln Ferguson, Director of Scheduling and Advance Millan Hupp, and/or Executive Scheduler Sydney Hupp that mention or relate to Alliance Resource Partners LP, Joe Craft, and/or Administrator Pruitt’s April 26, 2017 dinner with the company’s board of directors
4. Copies of all briefing material Administrator Pruitt received or reviewed regarding his April 26, 2017 dinner with the board of directors of Alliance Resource Partners LP
5. Copies of all documents received by Administrator Pruitt and/or his staff during the 26, 2017 dinner with the board of directors of Alliance Resource Partners LP
6. Copies of all records describing the attendees at the April 26, 2017 dinner with the board of directors of Alliance Resource Partners LP, the agenda of the meeting, and/or any planned follow up actions by EPA.

According to Administrator Pruitt’s schedule for April 2017, he attended dinner with the board of directors of Alliance Resource Partners LP, a coal company, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, which is still majority owned by President Trump through a revocable trust, on April 26, 2017. The restaurant where the dinner was held, BLT Prime, is owned by the hotel. The dinner marks at least the second time that a meeting with industry representatives at the President Trump’s hotel has appeared on Administrator Pruitt’s schedule since he took office.

The entry on Administrator Pruitt’s schedule regarding the dinner meeting with the board of directors of Alliance Resource Partners LP does not include a list of individual attendees. The requested records would shed light on who Administrator Pruitt met with during the meeting, what he discussed with the attendees, and how EPA communicates with industry stakeholders in private about public policy. Additionally, the requested records would increase public knowledge on whether EPA funds were used to pay for any part of Administrator Pruitt’s dinner at the Trump International Hotel in DC and whether any taxpayer funds ended up in the coffers of the president’s private business.