EPA chief Andrew Wheeler’s past lobbying ties attract scrutiny

The Washington Post: Andrew Wheeler’s lobbying ties have come under increasing scrutiny now that he has taken the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency, even though federal rules offer him wide latitude to meet with groups that retained him before April 2016.

Under the Trump administration’s ethics pledge, a political appointee cannot meet with anyone to whom he or she has provided services during the two years before joining the federal government — except under specific circumstances. That two-year window defines which companies and groups count as a “former client” in the eyes of federal ethics officials and which do not.

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