The White House said Thursday it was concerned about Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt’s reported use of senior staff to find employment for his wife, but the president is not making any decision on whether he stays or goes.
“Certainly, we have some areas of concern about these allegations, but I don’t have any personnel announcements at this point,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.
The White House has been examining many of the allegations facing Pruitt, which includes reports of him using senior staff members to pursue a Chick-fil-A franchise for his wife and seek out other employment for his wife through Republican donors, and using security and aides to buy coffee, lotion and a mattress.
The latest reports on his use of staff have made even his staunchest supporters in the Senate raise concerns.
Nevertheless, the GOP is not calling for his outright resignation, or for him to be fired, according to two top Republicans.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday that Pruitt’s actions are “out of order” if it is true that he used staff to find employment for his wife.
“Using his staff to find a job for his wife, is really something that is out of order,” Grassley said. Nevertheless, “I won’t draw conclusions on that, but I have a different feeling today than I had yesterday on that.”
When asked if it was time for the president to replace Pruitt, Grassley told reporters on Thursday “I am not going to say ‘yes,’ right now.”
Grassley, like other Republicans, wants to see what the EPA inspector general has to say about many of the ethics allegations going back to early spring. More than a dozen investigations are underway over Pruitt’s behavior.
The senior Republican said he continues to be dissatisfied with Pruitt over how he has handled implementation of the EPA’s ethanol program, granting dozens of waivers to oil refiners, who are required to blend the fuel. Pruitt has been on the road all week trying to mend fences with the ethanol industry, visiting farmers and biofuel production facilities.
“You know how dissatisfied I am on the ethanol issue, not so dissatisfied on other actions he has taken,” Grassely said. “I was a little reluctant to speak to those ethics things until the ethics investigator, or whatever you call them, get done and they issue an opinion.”
Other Republicans are concerned about the latest reports on Pruitt’s use of staff. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., a staunch Pruitt supporter from his home state, said in a Wednesday interview with Fox News radio anchor Laura Ingraham that he would consider asking him to step down.
Ingraham called for Pruitt to be fired on Wednesday, tweeting “PRUITT BAD JUDGMENT HURTING @POTUS, GOTTA GO”.
“I see these things, they upset me just as much as they upset you, and I think something needs to happen to change that,” Inhofe said. “One of the alternatives would be for him to leave that job.”
But Inhofe’s office said that doesn’t mean he wants Pruitt to resign. “Sen. Inhofe was on Laura Ingraham’s show and conveyed that he was concerned about recent reports and wanted to hear about them from the administrator directly,” said Inhofe spokeswoman Leacy Burke.
“He reiterated in a hallway interview later that day that he was not calling for the administrator to resign or be fired, but wanted to talk with him,” she said.
Inhofe also said he would be open to a hearing with Pruitt in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where he is a member and former chairman. But he didn’t say it was something he was suggesting.
Committee Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., would decide whether or not to hold a hearing.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a critic of Pruitt’s handling of the ethanol program, said in a tweet Wednesday that she would be open to a hearing.
