I think Pruitts about to go under the bus

[RandySF]

“White House officials are cautioning Republican lawmakers and other conservative allies to temper their defense of Scott Pruitt… in a sign that administration support for the embattled EPA chief may be waning,” Bloomberg reports.

“The warnings come as several top GOP lawmakers have stepped forward to publicly criticize Pruitt in recent days, marking a dramatic turn of fortune for one of the most conservative members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet who has been heralded for dismantling Obama-era regulations.”


https://politicalwire.com/2018/04/23/white-house-deters-republicans-defending-pruitt/

[poboy2]

1. Don't be so hasty! we have a few Dems that will save him. -nt

[COLGATE4]

5. Yep. Heitkamp and Manchin can be counted on to

back him up.

[manor321]

2. Slide into AG

I still think Trump is holding on to him so he can slide him into the (temporary) AG spot after forcing Sessions out. I hope I'm wrong.

[FakeNoose]

4. I hope Pruitt slides into permanent retirement

... this guy is absolute poison!

Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pruitt

Controversies
Due to the multiple ongoing scandals Pruitt is embroiled in, at least 20 members of Congress, including three Republicans (Carlos Curbelo, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Elise Stefanik), called for Pruitt's resignation. On April 3, 2018, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Congressmen Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Don Beyer (D-VA) called for an investigation of Pruitt's housing arrangements by the EPA's inspector general. House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, a Republican, started a probe into Pruitt in early April 2018 over his housing arrangements. President Donald Trump defended Pruitt, saying "Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!"

By early April 2018, Politico reported that the number of mushrooming scandals, leaks and staff disapproval of Pruitt's expenditures and ethical conflicts had created chaos at the EPA and put morale at an all-time low. Three Republican Senators joined the criticism, including Susan Collins, who had voted against his confirmation, as well as South Carolina's Lindsey Graham. Louisiana's John Neely Kennedy said, "Now these are unforced errors. They are stupid. There are a lot of problems we can’t solve. But you can behave." South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds defended him on Meet the Press, however, though referring to the criticism, saying, “I don’t know how much of it is overblown and how much of it is accurate, to be honest.”

Management of agency
EPA employees reported that the doors to the floor in the EPA's headquarters containing Pruitt's office were frequently locked, with employees required to have escorts while visiting the floor. Some EPA employees also reported being told not to bring cellphones or take notes in meetings with Pruitt. Pruitt is also accompanied by armed guards even while at EPA's headquarters, an unprecedented level of security for an EPA administrator. Pruitt also ended the longstanding practice of making public the appointments of the administrator and other top agency officials. These measures have prompted critics to charge that Pruitt is running the agency in secret.

Five officials at the EPA - four of them high-ranking - were reassigned, demoted or pushed out of the EPA after raised concerns about Pruitt's management of the agency, in particular Pruitt's expenditures. Several of these officials played a key role in reviewing Pruitt's travel plans; on occasions they put a halt to unjustifiably expensive travel plans. One political appointee was put on leave after voicing concerns about Pruitt to the White House’s presidential personnel office. The New York Times reported that the appointee had objected to proposals considered by Pruitt's staff to buy a $100,000-a-month charter aircraft membership, spend $70,000 on two desks for Pruitt's office, and spend $43,000 on a sound-proof security booth. The appointee first asked Pruitt in private to rein in his spending, but then did it through intermediaries after he got frozen out.

- more at link -

Footnotes were edited for legibility, but all footnotes and citations are available at the link.

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. NOBODY he appoints is qualified so this is inevitable...how Ben CArson still has a job or DeVos