EPA chief told to resign post
Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general who relentlessly pursued President Donald Trump’s promises of deregulation at the Environmental Protection Agency, resigned yesterday after controversies over his lavish spending, ethical lapses and controversial management decisions eroded the president’s confidence in one of his most ardent Cabinet members.
Pruitt’s reputation as a dogged deregulator and outspoken booster of the president allowed him to weather ethics scandals in recent months, including questions about taxpayer-funded first-class travel, a discounted condominium rental from the wife of a District of Columbia lobbyist and the installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office.
But revelations about his behaviour continued to mount, including reports that he repeatedly enlisted subordinates to help him search for housing, book personal travel and help search for a six-figure job for his wife. That quest included setting up a call with Chick-fil-A executives in which he discussed his wife becoming a franchisee, as well as outreach to a conservative judicial group that eventually hired Marlyn Pruitt.
In recent weeks, an exodus of trusted staffers left Pruitt increasingly isolated, and some Republican lawmakers wearied of defending him.
Investigators on Capitol Hill had summoned current and former EPA aides for questioning as part of more than a dozen federal inquiries into Pruitt’s spending and management of the agency.
Yesterday, the White House informed Pruitt that he had to submit his resignation, according to two individuals who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
President Trump did not speak to the administrator directly, according to a third individual, but instead called Pruitt’s top deputy, Andrew Wheeler, to inform him that he would be taking the helm of the agency.
Soon after, Trump announced in a two-part tweet that he had accepted Pruitt’s resignation. ‘‘Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this,’’ Trump wrote.
White House chief of staff John Kelly, who travelled with Trump to a political rally in Montana yesterday, had for months privately groused about Pruitt’s conduct and had pushed for his removal during West Wing meetings, according to White House officials who were not authorised to speak publicly. But the timing of yesterday’s move took some White House officials by surprise, as the president had closely guarded the decision.
In a resignation letter released by the EPA, Pruitt wrote that it had been ‘‘a blessing’’ to serve under Trump and undertake ‘‘transformative work’’ at EPA. But he added that ‘‘the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizeable toll on all of us.’’ He signed the letter, ‘‘Your Faithful Friend, Scott Pruitt.’’
Trump later told reporters aboard Air Force One that there was ‘‘no final straw’’ that led to Pruitt’s departure, and that the move, which he said was of Pruitt’s volition, had been in the works for ‘‘a couple of days.’’
‘‘He came to me and said, ‘I have such great confidence in the administration. I don’t want to be a distraction,’’’ Trump said.
‘‘And I think Scott felt that he was a distraction.’’
Wheeler, a former Senate staffer and EPA employee who spent a decade representing coal, mining and other energy companies, will become acting administrator, Trump tweeted.
Democrats and environmentalists hailed Pruitt’s exit, even as they viewed Wheeler’s rise warily and warned that he would continue many of the same policies.
Senator Thomas Carper, Del., the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said yesterday that Pruitt’s ‘‘brazen abuse of his position’’ had surprised even his political opponents.
‘‘We had a good idea what he was going to be on the policy side. We had no idea how morally bereft he would be,’’ Carper told reporters.
‘‘He was all the things this administration said it was opposed to . . . . He’s done a lot of damage. It can be reversed, but it’s going to take some time.’’
The chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Republican John Barrasso, Wyo., said that Trump ‘‘made the right decision in accepting Pruitt’s resignation. It has become increasingly challenging for the EPA to carry out its mission with the administrator under investigation.’’
During his roughly 16 months in office, Pruitt took steps to reverse more than a dozen major Obama-era regulations and overhauled key elements of the agency’s approach to scientific research.
For months, he had ranked as a personal confidant and influential policy adviser to the president, commiserating with Trump over negative news coverage while praising the commander in chief for his intelligence and political acumen. – Washington Post