Vox Sentences: We’ve lost count of all the Scott Pruitt scandals

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EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is embroiled in yet another scandal; Malaysia’s former prime minister has been arrested.

Another day, another Pruitt scandal

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

• Scott Pruitt has been caught in what seems like the millionth round of scandals since he started serving as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. [Mic / Emily C. Singer]
• Two of Pruitt’s top aides recently told congressional investigators about his alleged unethical practices while heading the EPA. This includes instructing aides to get his wife a $200,000 job, asking aides to spend time on other personal tasks and — despite their objections — booking very high-end travel arrangements. [Washington Post / Juliet Eilperin, Josh Dawsey, and Brady Dennis]
• In one particularly egregious instance, Pruitt made aide Sydney Hupp pay $600 for his hotel room on her personal credit card. He then failed to properly reimburse her. [Vox / Li Zhou]
• Kevin Chmielewski, a former deputy chief of staff for operations, admitted that Pruitt instructed aides to create a secret calendar “to overtly hide controversial meetings or calls.” [CNN / Scott Bronstein, Curt Devine, and Drew Griffin]
• The list of his alleged prior offenses seems so endless, there isn’t enough room in Sentences to recap them all — let alone touch on a few. Let’s just say they are diverse, extensive, and have resulted in more than a dozen investigations. [Vox / Umair Irfan]
• All the while, Pruitt is still ravaging the environment. He gave a Utah oil company exemptions from smog rules that prevent illnesses like asthma, according to newly released emails. [Politico / Emily Holden]
• Trump once said that he was so popular he could “stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody” without losing support. The same might go for Pruitt. [The Baltimore Sun]
• It doesn’t seem like Trump will ask Pruitt to resign anytime soon. Instead, a teacher carrying her 2-year-old son who saw Pruitt at a restaurant did. [USA Today / Ashley May]

Former Malaysian PM arrested for stealing millions

• Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was arrested by anti-corruption forces on June 3 for allegedly embezzling $700 million from a state development fund. [BBC]
• There are billions of dollars unaccounted for in 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state development fund Najib set up himself. American prosecutors allege $4.5 billion was laundered and at least $730 million went directly into Najib’s pockets. [NYT / Hannah Beech and Austin Ramzy]
• Najib allegedly spent that money on precious diamonds, homes in New York and Los Angeles, and investments for a Hollywood production company that produced The Wolf of Wall Street. [Quartz / Tripti Lahiri]
• Najib maintained his innocence in the only interview he’s given since his stunning loss in May’s Malaysian election. [The Guardian / Hannah Ellis-Petersen]
• The Malaysian Bar said that the 1MDB task force has “no legal standing to arrest” Najib. They are “shocked and troubled” by the arrest. [Channel NewsAsia]
• Najib previously seemed impossible to take down. [The Diplomat / Luke Hunt]

Miscellaneous

• Samsung phones are texting users’ photographs to random contacts without their permission. We’re not going to spell out which kinds of photos you should probably delete … but you should probably delete those photos. [The Verge / Ashley Carman]
• People are shocked and outraged after a woman was thoroughly injured while trying to feed a shark. They’re surprised that a wild animal would do animalistic things, apparently. [Vice / Allison Tierney]
• Paramount has released their first, powerful trailer for the upcoming Trayvon Martin docuseries. The series is produced by Martin’s parents and rapper Jay-Z. [Vulture / Halle Kiefer]
• A woman with a 50-pound ovarian cyst — the largest her doctor has ever seen — was initially told to lose weight while seeking medical attention. This is just further proof that fatphobia and misogyny are rampant in the medical industry. [Buzzfeed / Lauren Strapagiel]

Verbatim

“Whatever the outcome, show humility. It’s O.K. to be unskilled, even to fail publicly.”

[Malia Wollan learning from John Thorn, the official historian of Major League Baseball, about throwing the ceremonial first pitch / NYT Magazine]

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