FOX News:
The top Republican on the Senate environment committee said Thursday that newly released transcripts showing an ex-EPA official discussing his widespread fraud against the government — as well as a pet “project” to “modify” capitalism — are likely “the first layer of a very big onion” at the EPA.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is continuing to call for a hearing before the Environment and Public Works Committee on the case of John Beale. The former EPA official was sentenced in December to 32 months in prison for bilking taxpayers out of nearly $1 million by pretending to be a CIA agent.
The plot thickened, though, after a House committee this week released hundreds of pages of transcripts from a deposition he gave to congressional lawmakers in December. In it, Beale freely discussed the lies he told his colleagues, but also claimed he had been working on a “project” examining ways to “modify the DNA of the capitalist system.”
Vitter, in a statement to FoxNews.com, suggested lawmakers need to learn much more about what was happening at the EPA during Beale’s tenure.
“There were some major misjudgment and lack of leadership skills when it came to decisions surrounding John Beale, but it is still difficult to ascertain the lies from reality at this stage, whether coming from EPA or Beale himself,” Vitter said. “My instinct is that this is just the first layer of a very big onion in terms of what has been going on at EPA.”
Vitter’s office has accused EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who at the time was Beale’s boss, of looking the other way when Beale was collecting improper payments.
McCarthy has been credited with initially flagging Beale’s activities and expenses, triggering the inspector general investigation which unraveled the scheme.
But, in the transcripts, he spoke in great detail about meetings he supposedly had with McCarthy, back when she was heading the Office of Air and Radiation.
