Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt's lease at a Washington townhouse owned by a lobbyist friend allowed him to pay $50 a night for a single bedroom -- but only on the nights when he actually slept there.

White House officials are growing dismayed about the questions surrounding Pruitt's living arrangement, including his initial inability to produce any documentation about his lease or his actual payments, according to three officials. The landlord provided EPA officials with a copy of the lease and proof of the payments Pruitt made.

The questions follow criticism of Pruitt for traveling first class on airline flights.

In all, Pruitt paid $6,100 to use the room for roughly six months, according to copies of the checks reviewed by Bloomberg. Those checks show varying amounts paid on sporadic dates -- not a traditional monthly "rent payment" of the same amount each month.

That was because of the unusual rent schedule -- not a single monthly amount, but a daily amount charged only for days used for a single bedroom in the two-bedroom unit just blocks from the Capitol. The owner is a health care lobbyist, Vicki Hart. Her husband J. Steven Hart, is also a lobbyist and his firm represents clients in industries regulated by the EPA