Emails exchanged between a representative for Toyota and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that the auto company offered Administrator Scott Pruitt a private test drive…
Emails exchanged between a representative for Toyota and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that the auto company offered Administrator Scott Pruitt a private test drive of a new Lexus model, ABC News reported on Friday.
The report notes that there is no evidence that the private test drive ever took place. But the emails could prove controversial due to the fact that the EPA helps regulate the automotive industry.
Millan Hupp, a top aide for Pruitt who resigned this week, and a representative for Toyota communicated with each other via email in 2017 after Pruitt visited a Toyota office in Plano, Texas. Pruitt reportedly took an interest in the Lexus LC500, and Toyota followed up multiple times to see if Pruitt would be interested in a test drive.
« Just today, we took delivery of a brand new Lexus LC500 (the same car we showed him in the parking garage), » Tom Stricker, a vice president in Toyota’s product regulatory affairs division, wrote in August 2017, per emails obtained by ABC. « Is there a good day in the next week or so for the Administrator to go for a lunchtime drive? »
Sierra Club first obtained the emails after filing a public records request and a lawsuit.
