Mitch McConnell was asked during a Senate Republican Leadership press conference today to make clear whether he feels Scott Pruitt is fiscally responsible. Though he had not been asked whether Pruitt should be fired, McConnell’s very first response was that it’s the President’s decision who is on his team -- making clear that McConnell envisions the possibility of Pruitt departing over the many ethical and spending scandals engulfing him by the minute.
Scott Pruitt’s ability to constantly embarrass Donald Trump will seemingly never end. Yesterday, news broke that Pruitt is no longer just violating a litany of ethical norms, but also federal law. This has led to not only Republican Congressman and Chair of the House Oversight Committee Trey Gowdy condemning him, but now Republican Senator and Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee John Barrasso criticizing Pruitt’s actions as well.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Government Accountability Office, a government watchdog agency, announced that Scott Pruitt violated federal law by spending more than $43,000 to install a private phone booth in his office, according to a report obtained by ABC News.
Things keep getting worse for Scott Pruitt. On Friday, Representative Trey Gowdy, chairman of House Oversight, announced he’s expanding his investigation into Pruitt’s litany of unethical actions.
Thursday was another whirlwind day for Scandalous Scott Pruitt, who’s polling numbers are tanking (down to 29%), as more and more disgraceful scandals and embarrassing headlines pop up. Pruitt’s bad behavior is now the cause of at least 11 federal investigations.
Today, in a bicameral letter sent to embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, members of Congress detailed meetings between Kevin Chmielewski and congressional investigators. Chmielewski, a Trump loyalist and former campaign staffer Trump has described as “a champ”, had served as the E.P.A.’s deputy chief of staff until he was removed from his post after raising objections to Pruitt’s repeated ethics violations and abuse of taxpayer funds.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy sent a letter to Scott Pruitt demanding Pruitt provide all information and documents the Committee requested in mid-February related to his wasteful spending and to further include information on his sweetheart housing deals with a fossil fuel lobbyist landlord.
Today, Politico reported that, in an attempt to cover up one of his many scandals, Scott Pruitt retaliated against and punished the career EPA staffer who approved the report Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Tom Carper referenced to demand a congressional inquiry into his around the clock security detail. The report details that the threats Pruitt has received don’t justify the 24/7 security protection he currently makes taxpayers cover.
Scott Pruitt’s hell week - and weekend - of embarrassing round the clock headlines of his ethics violations looks to be continuing this week as news breaks that he personally approved massive raises for two of his employees after previously denying doing so. In order to get ahead of the Inspector General after Pruitt’s botched Fox News interview aired, top EPA aides began looking for files that contradicted Pruitt’s statement that he did not know about the raises.
The scandals for “the Kato Kaelin of Capitol Hill” are going into extra innings this weekend, as Pruitt’s corrupt behavior is reaching new levels of absurdity and obscenity, earning even more embarrassing headlines for the Trump Administration, and drawing scrutiny and pressure from across the country and across the aisle.
“It should by now be clear that Scott Pruitt’s scandals are not going to stop coming, and he will continue to humiliate himself and the Trump Administration every additional hour he is in office.” - Maura Cowley, Director of the Sierra Club’s Resist Campaign.
Scott Pruitt’s desperate attempts to save his job and repair his relationship with Donald Trump are unraveling faster than the flow of stories on his unethical actions.