AROUND THE U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, one of the most scandal-plagued Cabinet officials in U.S. history, is leaving the agency.

“I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency,” Trump said in a tweet Thursday. “Within the agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this.”

He said Pruitt’s deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will assume control on Monday as acting administrator. The naming of Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist and longtime Washington insider, assures that even in Pruitt’s absence, the EPA will continue to pursue an agenda driven by the fossil fuel industry.

“I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda,” Trump wrote. “We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!”

Special counsel Robert Mueller told a U.S. appeals court that Paul Manafort must prepare for his criminal trials while behind bars, citing a judge’s finding that he can’t be trusted to play by the rules.

Manafort is appealing a Washington judge’s June 15 order jailing him for allegedly attempting to tamper with witnesses. Manafort was indicted last year for laundering money and for acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the pro-russian Ukrainian government.

On June 4, the special counsel accused the onetime Trump campaign chairman of witness tampering.

– Appeal-democrat news services