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.
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Today, during the White House Press Briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was twice asked about the deluge of corruption scandals facing Scott Pruitt.
In a humiliating clip released of an interview with Ed Henry of Fox News, Scott Pruitt is pressed hard to explain why he directly defied Donald Trump by coordinating massive raises for his staff through an obscure loophole -- after the Trump White House rejected those raise. Pruitt attempts to pass the buck, blaming someone else, but he doesn’t actually know who. According to reporting by the Atlantic and government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by E&E News, Pruitt lied.
The drumbeat of scandals and embarrassing headlines created by Scott Pruitt for the Trump Administration has become relentless. Here’s just the latest round-up and some questions that Sarah Huckabee Sanders needs to be asked. Today, Sarah Huckabee Sanders should clarify whether Donald Trump will hold Pruitt accountable -- like he did with former HHS Secretary Tom Price and former VA Secretary David Shulkin -- for his blatantly unethical behavior and call on Pruitt to resign.
It may be spring, but Scott Pruitt’s scandals have snowballed into a full blown avalanche. Here’s what we know after this week’s blizzard of bad headlines for the Trump Administration courtesy of Scott Pruitt.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- It may be spring, but Scott Pruitt’s scandals continue to snowball, as ABC News reported today that Pruitt worked directly with fossil fuel industry lobbyist Steven Hart to secure living arrangements in a townhouse owned by the same lobbyist’s wife. According to ABC, Pruitt paid for just one room in an otherwise unoccupied townhouse and experts on government ethics are raising questions as to whether this was a fair market transaction. Meanwhile, former White House Ethics Czar Norm Eisen said Pruitt likely secured the property below market value, categorizing the deal as a major ethics violation.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, ABC News reported that for much of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s first year in DC, he lived in the townhouse co-owned by the wife of fossil fuel lobbyist Steven Hart. Hart’s lobbying firm reportedly represents fossil fuel companies pushing “liquid natural gas” -- a dirty fuel that Pruitt has openly advocated for, including on a taxpayer funded trip to Morocco.
Nationwide Campaign to “Boot Pruitt” Launched by Leading Environmental and Progressive Organizations
Tulsa, OK — Today, Sierra Club, Hip Hop Caucus, Friends of the Earth, Green For All, Green Latinos, Defend Our Future, League of Conservation of Voters, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Center for American Progress Action launched a nationwide campaign to “Boot Pruitt”. The coordinated effort aims to force Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, from office. The Sierra Club will promote a national TV ad on Facebook in Oklahoma City and Tulsa that calls for Trump to boot Pruitt. The ad will be accompanied by a petition calling for Pruitt to resign.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Sierra Club began airing a TV ad on Fox and Friends and Morning Joe calling for Trump to fire Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt. The ads will air on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. The ad is part of the Boot Pruitt campaign, a coordinated effort among several groups aimed at forcing Pruitt from office.
Pruitt's contempt for the taxpayer and their money knows no bounds. Yesterday, on Mark Reardon’s radio show Scott Pruitt said he was “dumbfounded by the kind of media narratives that these things are somehow not the focus,” he went on to try and justify his $120,000 first class trip to Italy on the basis of having a jam-packed schedule. Pruitt was so busy, he only had time for one pasta making class and a private tour of the Vatican. It’s not just “very important meetings” (and pasta making class) that Pruitt is recklessly spending our taxpayer dollars on. Earlier this year Pruitt brought his security detail with him to Disneyland and to watch the University of Oklahoma Sooners lose in the Rose Bowl. We’re a bit dumbfounded as to how he still has his job.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Yesterday, at the White House press briefing, a reporter with the Washington Post asked Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about cabinet abuses of power by Scott Pruitt, David Shulkin, and Ben Carson. Sanders repeatedly said that all three were “under review”, but did not clarify whether the White House is reviewing these cases independently of individual reviews and investigations at their respective agencies.
The Environmental Protection Agency has told employees at the National Exposure Research Lab (NERL) in Las Vegas that they are moving up the closure date for the lab by two years, which is forcing employees to quickly decide between resigning, retiring, or relocating across the country. NERL focuses on monitoring and preventing human exposure to pollution and toxic chemicals. This is just the latest attack from Trump's EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in favor of a corporate polluter agenda and against the scientists and research that protects Americans from pollution.