White House chief of staff John Kelly has urged President Trump to fire embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, whose ethics and judgment are being questioned over a series of decisions he has made involving spending, housing and his management style.
Kelly and other White House officials have concluded that Pruitt should leave, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. But Trump is continuing to back Pruitt, viewing him as an effective implementer of his deregulatory agenda by gutting or delaying a number of EPA regulations imposed by the Obama administration.
Trump on Friday decried what he views as a media “siege” facing the EPA chief and rejected other reports that have suggested he is considering replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Pruitt.
“Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege?” Trump said in a Twitter post. “Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt.”
Pruitt is under fire for his travel on first-class flights, his condo rental from the wife of an energy lobbyist, big pay raises for two aides, and reassigning and demoting staff who called him out for his spending decisions.
The White House has said it is reviewing the condo deal, in which Pruitt arranged to live in the bedroom of a Capitol Hill condo for $50 per night.
Kelly’s voice in the debate over what to do with Pruitt may not matter so much, as the Washington Post and others have reported Trump is increasingly leaving his chief of staff out of major decisions.
Conservatives in Congress have mostly expressed continued support for Pruitt, or have said little, with the exception of three House Republicans who have said he should resign.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California became the latest Democrat to go all-in on ousting Pruitt.
“EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s tenure has been a part of the Trump administration’s culture of corruption, cronyism and incompetence,” Pelosi said Friday. “Pruitt must resign.”
