EPA chief's job is not assured after Trump’s measured praise
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump offered a measured gesture of support for the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, but those words of encouragement for Scott Pruitt also came with a White House warning about the ethical questions surrounding his travel spending and ties to Washington lobbyists.
“I hope he's going to be great,” Trump told reporters, declining to reiterate publicly his private praise for Pruitt's work.
In a phone call Monday, Trump told the EPA chief that “we've got your back” and urged him to “keep his head up” and “keep fighting,” according to two administration officials. Trump's call was quickly followed by one from chief of staff John Kelly, who laid out the White House's displeasure over being caught blindsided by some of the ethical problems raised, according to two other officials.
Those officials said the praise referred to Pruitt's work in loosening environmental regulations and his success at getting under the skin of environmental groups. But they added that the tone of Trump's call was not entirely positive.
All of the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private conversations publicly.
Trump has repeatedly praised endangered members of his administration while privately plotting their ouster and interviewing replacements. That tendency, and Trump's tepid words Tuesday, suggested that Pruitt's future at EPA is not assured despite the president's apparently high regard for him .
Meanwhile, two Republicans representing left-leaning South Florida districts, Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, joined Democrats and environmental groups in calling on Pruitt to resign or be fired.
Pruitt was one of several Cabinet officials summoned a month ago to meet with White House lawyers and Cabinet affairs staff over ethical questions, and they were warned that further negative headlines could imperil their jobs.
Pruitt has come under intense scrutiny for his use of a Capitol Hill condominium owned by the wife of prominent Washington lobbyist Steven Hart, whose firm represents fossil fuel companies. An agency ethics official at the EPA has insisted that Pruitt's lease didn't violate federal ethics rules.
Democrats from both the House and Senate issued letters Tuesday urging the EPA's inspector general to investigate Pruitt's living arrangements. Spokeswoman Jennifer Kaplan said the watchdog office is evaluating the requests. It is already probing Pruitt's outsized 2017 travel spending, which included extensive use of bodyguards and frequent use of first-class airline tickets. Though federal regulations typically require federal officials to fly in coach, the EPA chief has said he needed to sit in premium seats because of security concerns.
On Tuesday, the Atlantic reported that Pruitt had also bypassed the White House to give big raises to two young aides he had brought with him to EPA from Oklahoma. After failing to win approval from the West Wing, Pruitt used a little-known legal maneuver to push the pay increases through. A 30-yearold lawyer serving as Pruitt's senior legal counsel got a 53 percent raise, boosting her salary to more than $164,000. Pruitt's 26year-old scheduling director got a 33 percent raise, increasing her salary to nearly $115,000.