extent to which the special interests providing him with gifts have sought specific favors from epa in return pallone said in a statement this culture of corruption has diverted public funds to special interests and could undermine all of the important work the epa does hart also met with pruitt and treacy in what his spokesman called a personal meeting to discuss issues related to preservation of the chesapeake bay the epas internal watchdog is now looking into pruitts living arrangement the arrangement has raised questions about whether it was an illegal gift for the landlord to hold the room open for pruitt even when he did not stay there and whether it was a conflict of interest epa ethics officials have said that the arrangement was not an illegal gift because it matched other rates in the area but they also said that their decision only evaluated whether it was a gift and not a conflict of interest one ethics official said that she didnt have all the information about the agreement when she made the determination abc news has reached out to smithfield and treacy for comment harts former law firm williams jensen did not comment on the mail but said in a statement that the firm has engaged outside counsel to review its 2017 filings amid recent reports about harts lobbying activity