Former Trump EPA chief Scott Pruitt files for Senate seat in Oklahoma

Former Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt on Friday filed to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Oklahoma.

Driving the news: Pruitt is running for the seat currently held by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) who announced in February that he would be retiring at the end of the year.

The big picture: Pruitt, a former state senator and Oklahoma attorney general, was brought on to serve as EPA chief at the beginning of the Trump presidency. He resigned in 2018 after months of scandals regarding his spending habits and management decisions, which led to federal probes.

• The former EPA chief also came under fire for attempting to use his position to get his wife a job as a Chick-fil-A franchisee, enlisting a top aide to find his wife a job through Republican donors, and sending employees to buy him snacks during the workday.
• He also faced ethics investigations into pricey trips with first-class airline seats and unusual security spending, including a $43,000 soundproof booth for making private phone calls.

Go deeper: The scandals that led to Scott Pruitt's resignation