President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the top attorney at EPA, Sean Donahue, pleaded guilty to an impaired driving charge in August, according to his written responses to questions from senators that was obtained by POLITICO.
Donahue’s response says that after a traffic stop on Aug. 28, 2024, in Amherst, New York — a suburb of Buffalo, where Donahue lived at the time — he was charged with “driving while intoxicated” for his “refusal to submit to a screening test.”
On Oct. 30, Donahue pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of “driving while ability impaired” as part of a plea deal. That charge typically applies to drivers whose blood alcohol level is more than 0.05 percent but less than 0.07 percent, according to New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles. A DWI in New York applies to drivers with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent or greater, or “other evidence of intoxication.”
Donahue said he paid court and traffic fines and attended a “Victim Impact Panel,” where DWI survivors and victims share their stories. POLITICO has not independently confirmed the records, which are not available electronically.
