The EPA paid $1,560 for 12 fountain pens

Last year, one of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's aides ordered a dozen $130 fountain pens paid for with taxpayer money, according to new documents that the Sierra Club retrieved through a Freedom of Information Act request. The pens were emblazoned with the EPA seal and Pruitt's signature. From CNN:

The order from the Washington shop Tiny Jewel Box also included a set of journals that cost $1,670.

An agency spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from CNN. But spokesman Jahan Wilcox told The Washington Post, which first reported the pen purchase, they were similar to purchases made by Pruitt's predecessors "for the purpose of serving as gifts to the Administrator's foreign counterparts and dignitaries upon his meeting with them."

The purchase stands out not only for the cost but also because it was approved by a close aide who Pruitt described in congressional testimony last month as "longtime friend."