May 10, 2018

Scott Pruitt Broke Bread With a Climate-Skeptic Cardinal Accused of Sexual Abuse

When in Rome…

Chris Kleponis/ZUMA

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EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt dined at a five-star restaurant with Cardinal George Pell, a climate-change skeptic who faces child sexual abuse charges, during a visit to Rome in June 2017, documents obtained by the New York Times show.

According to the Times, EPA staff knew the Cardinal was under investigation at the time, and multiple EPA schedules from that day do not include the meeting with Pell. Pruitt’s chief of staff and Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, were also at the dinner.

Cardinal Pell will soon stand trial for multiple counts of child sexual abuse. 

Here are the documents obtained by the Times:

Private Tour of Apostolic Palace Proposed with Cardinal Pell (p. 18)

View entire document on DocumentCloud

And here is a Twitter thread from the Times‘ Eric Lipton: 

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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