We can only speculate what Scott Pruitt thinks about when he eats lunch. But he looked relaxed at his table at Teaism on Monday afternoon — exactly 500 days into his directorship of the Environmental Protection Agency; five days after the agency’s top ethics official recommended widening an investigation into accusations that he misused his power; about five hours before The Washington Post reported that Pruitt once asked a subordinate to help find his wife a job, and less than five minutes before Kristin Mink wiped a smile off his face.
A few tables from the EPA administrator, Mink was wrangling her 2-year-old into his seat while she waited for her pancake to arrive from the kitchen.