EPA Chief Scott Pruitt sounded off Tuesday night against what he deemed “toxic” people inside Washington, D.C., who are drumming up scandals to undermine President Donald Trump’s agenda.
There are people who “will resort to anything” to make sure Trump’s climate agenda gets fulfilled, Pruitt, who has been under intense scrutiny over allegations of misusing taxpayer money, said in an interview with The Washington Examiner.
“It’s toxic here in that regard,” said Pruitt, who is widely considered one of the most effective officials inside the Trump administration. He presided over the EPA’s move to nix a slew of Obama-era environmental regulations. But those wins have been marred somewhat by ethical issues.
Reports from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and others have painted Pruitt as a cash-spending, jet-setting official abusing the trust of the American public.
He allegedly rented a bedroom from the wife of a lobbyist for the first six months of tenure, according to a report Monday from ABC. Another report from Politico in March showed the EPA spent more than $100,000 on first class flights for Pruitt.
Republicans and Democrats are now calling for Trump to oust the beleaguered EPA administrator. GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida called the “corruption scandals” swirling around Pruitt an “embarrassment” in a tweet Tuesday. California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu called the former Oklahoma AG “deeply paranoid” and unethical in a March 31 tweet.
Pruitt implied in The Washington Examiner interview that people inside D.C. were pulling out of the stops to stop Trump and the regulation rollback. He did not explicitly tie the scandals to a hidden agenda.
“This president’s courage and commitment to make those things happen and him empowering his teammates in each of these respective agencies to say go forth and get results and get accountability, it’s happening. It’s happening here, it’s happening elsewhere,” Pruitt said. “And do I think that is something that some folks don’t like? Absolutely. And do I think they’ll use any means to [stop] it? Absolutely. And it’s frustrating.”
Yet the cascade of scandals might not amount to much. Trump reportedly called Pruitt to express support amid the public relations storm Monday night. White House chief of staff John Kelly also spoke with Pruitt Tuesday morning, the White House confirmed.
“The president likes him and likes what he’s doing,” an administration official familiar with Pruitt and Trump’s relationship told The Daily Caller Tuesday. Analysts believe Pruitt could be hard to replace. One longtime Capitol Hill leadership veteran told TheDC: “it would be almost impossible to imagine the Senate confirming any other administrator at this point.”
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