Former Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who left office in 2017 to become administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under former President Donald Trump, was rebuked by an Oklahoma County district judge for taking more than two years to fulfill some records requests.
The case involved emails requested by the Center for Media and Democracy in 2015 between Pruitt’s office and energy companies and trade associations.
“My question to you is, what explanation do you have as a state agency for taking two years to respond and turn over any documents at all?” District Judge Aletia Haynes Timmons asked an assistant attorney general in a February 2017 hearing.
Timmons ordered the release of most of the records. Pruitt’s office at the time claimed some of the documents were allowed to be withheld and asked the court to privately inspect them to make sure.