Scott Pruitt , the Environmental Protection Agency head whose anti-regulation crusade couldnt save his job from his repeated ethics scandals, picked out an ornate desk for an expensive office remodel last year that concerned his staff because it contained toxic formaldehyde.

Prutts underlings sought to protect him from effects of the chemical in the furniture, months before Pruitt delayed the release of an EPA report warning the public about the dangers of formaldehyde, Politico reported Thursday.

The irony would be comical if not so dangerous , Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement.

Pruitt, whose time in President Donald Trump s Cabinet was notable for lavish spending of taxpayer money and aggressive rollback of environmental regulations, caused concern with his desk selection when a staffer noticed a California-required warning label that the furniture contained formaldehyde, a carcinogen found in pressed wood and many other products. It wasnt clear whether Pruitt ultimately ordered the desk.

Reginald Allen, then EPA acting deputy chief of staff, contacted Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, then head of the agencys toxic chemicals office, to ask about the warning, according to emails obtained by nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight. She suggested the desk be aired out for days before setting it up in Pruitts office.

The good news, Cleland-Hamnett noted, is that California regulates formaldehyde emissions ... so that exposure from the desk is likely to be fine.

At the time, an EPA regulation limiting formaldehyde emissions had been put on hold by the Trump administration, Politico noted. In addition, a draft EPA report on the risks of the chemical that was completed during the Obama administration has yet to be released by the EPA .

Pruitt, who resigned this month amid numerous ethics investigations , was asked about the formaldehyde report during a Senate hearing in January. Its my understanding that the EPA has finalized its conclusion that formaldehyde causes leukemia and other cancers, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told Pruitt then.