Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, accompanied by Environmental Protection Agency Chief Financial Officer Holly Greaves, left, testifies on the EPA FY2019 budget at a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., Thursday, April 26, 2018.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

At a Glance

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testified Thursday during back-to-back hearings before two House subcommittees.Committee members took the opportunity to question him on specific allegations and policy decisions.Pruitt responded to aggressive lines of questioning Thursday by either deflecting the question, laying the blame on staffers or not answering directly.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testified Thursday during back-to-back hearings before two House subcommittees, where he was forced to answer questions pertaining to lavish spending and other alleged ethical missteps.

While the hearings with theHouse Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environmentand Related Agencieswere meant to be routine budget meetings, committee members took the opportunity to question him on specific allegations and policy decisions.

In recent weeks, Pruitt has been under scrutinyover numerous accusations of lavish spending and ethicsviolations that have resulted in.

Pruitt responded to aggressive lines of questioning Thursday by either deflecting the question, laying the blame on staffers or not answering directly.

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In anopening statement during the first hearing with the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment, Pruitt said many of the media reports are nothing more than "half-truths" and "twisted stories" coming from sources who "want to derail the president's agenda."

"I promise you that I, more than anyone, want to provide hard facts," Pruitt said. "I have nothing to hide as to how I've run the agency."

Pruitt seemed to put the blame for recent scrutiny on the media.

"Facts are facts; fiction is fiction," Pruitt said. "A lie does not become truth just because it appears on the front page of a newspaper."

While several committee members called on Pruitt's resignation, the administrator did have support on the committees.

Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) said it was "shameful that this day has turned into a personal attack," while Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) called Pruitt a "victim" of Democrats because of news reports.

"The greatest sin you've committed, if any, is you've actually done what President Trump ran on, won on and what he's commissioned you to do," Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told Pruitt.

Here is a run-down of the allegations against the administrator and Pruitt's response, or lack thereof, to each during Thursday's testimony:

Allegation:The installation of a sound-proof booth for private phone calls, at a cost of $43,000. TheGovernment Accountability Office has ruled that the.

Pruitt's Response: Pruitt said he was unaware of the expenditure and merely asked staffers to provide "secure communications."

“I was not aware of the approval of the $43,000,” Pruitt responded to a question posed by Rep.Tony Cárdenas (D-California), “and if I had known about it, Congressman, I would not have approved it.”

Allegation: Staffers claim they faced retaliation after challenging questionable expenditures.

Pruitt's Response: Pruitt adamantly insisted to committee members thatthere was "no truth" to the allegations, adding that he was "not aware of that ever happening."

“Has it always been your practice to fire people who disagree with you?” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-New Jersey) asked the administrator.

“I don’t ever recall a conversation to that end,” Pruitt responded.

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Allegation: Pruitt rented a condo from the wife of an energy lobbyist for $50 a night, abelow-market rate that suggests an unethical arrangement.

Pruitt's Response: He conceded that he did not seek an ethics ruling on whether the rental was appropriate.

Allegation:Extensive first-class travel for Pruitt and his aides, including a trip in June that reportedly costtaxpayers more than $120,000.

Pruitt's Response:Pruitt said he was not involved in the decision to travel first class. He noted thattravel arrangements were changed because of an "unprecedented" numberof threats on his life.

"That was something that was predicated upon a security assessment," Pruitt said, referring to the changes in travel plans. "The inspector general has noticed that the threats against me have been unprecedented compared to previous administrators, as it related to the number and also the type of threats. And that dictated the changes that were made in my travel."

Pruitt noted that he no longer travels first class because the media attention on the scandal was "a distraction."

“I recently made changes to that because I felt like, from an optics and perception standpoint, it was creating a distraction,” he said.

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Allegation: Heftypay raises for two EPA employees he brought with him from Oklahoma. One received a 52 percent pay hike, and the second, a 33 percent increase in pay.

Pruitt's Response:Rep. Paul Tonko (D-New York)asked Pruitt whether he had approved the pay raises. Pruitt seemed to do an about-face from recent interviews during which he denied that he knew anything about the pay raises.

While he did not answer a "yes" or "no" to a direct question of whether he gave the approval, Pruitt insinuated that his chief of staff,Ryan Jackson, was given the green light to sign off on the salary increases.

"There was delegation given in my authority,” Pruitt responded. “I was not aware of the amount, and I was not aware of the bypassing that was going on.”

Tonkoretorted that the administrator's answer indicates that“you have no idea what is going on” at the agency under "your name."

Allegation: More than $3 million spent on an around-the-clock security detail.

Pruitt's Response: Similar to his response to lavish travel arrangements, Pruitt said the decision was out of his hands and security was increased as a result of death threats.