In another era, such a self-aggrandizer and an unethical person would have been labeled as a crook and, at the very least, would have been expected to resign. But these days, crooks in the government just hang on and fight back. Their model, after all, occupies the seat of the 45th. Emboldened by wealthy backers and authoritarian fanatics, our own home-made Putinesque crooks see no reason to seek glory in innocence. Innocence? Why that word is persona non grata at present. And, when, a crook is somehow forced to leave, others in the swamp are all too-ready to be fished out to take his place. Maybe, that's what 45 meant when he said he had many top people waiting to be part of his team. Worst of all, underneath all of these happenings, certain words in the language have also taken a hit. Terms such as dignity, honor, comportment, charity, generosity are slowly losing their power to make one rise above one's own petty needs. Corruption in behavior, starting at the very top, has flowed into interstices hitherto untainted and, as if to keep up with this, language previously reserved for the highest accolades, is beginning to acquire strange applications. Hyperboles such as "amazing", "great", "very good", among others, are now routinely being applied to describe what is, in reality, crooked behavior. Who, only two years ago, would have even dreamt of such a thing?!
2
Pruitt is a creature of ultra conservative petrochemical interests; that's a known factor. he is relentless in his efforts to sacrifice our environment and health in favor of the profits of his constituents. also, a known factor. he's not dumb and he is an actual lawyer. it's been well known for a long time he is also full of himself.
but the degree of hubris he's shown sive he got to Washington is nothing short of breathtaking.
meanwhile, wouldn't all his qualities make him a dandy repacement when Trump fires Sessions?
don't count Pruitt out too fast, even though I'd Sooner he just disappeared.
Pruitt should have to pay back the $40K he and his staff spent of their Paris-Morocco trip! What a joke this administration is! The swamp keeps getting more and more toxic!
Really? One of Trump's cronies is corrupt? Uh, I, uh. I uh. I just can't believe it. Surely, in his quest to make America great again, his honor, Agent Orange, will make quick work of getting rid of this pustule.
In a normal, law-abiding administration, what is known about Mr. Pruitt now would have led already to a criminal referral by the EPA Inspector General to the Department of Justice. Moreover, other alleged misconduct would likely have led to investigations by FBI field offices in Oklahoma City and DC.
1
Come on! Renting a room from an energy lobbyist regardless of price is a clear ethics problem. I’m a nurse and congress won’t even let me have a pen from a drug company. His daughter gets to be a WH intern! Trump drained one swamp so he could double the size of his own. Why do conservatives hate clean air and water? All over Michigan, water is contaminated by p-phos and you can’t drink the water or eat the fish. In my book that’s a problem. The polluters need to pay for what they ruin and be prevented from polluting in the first place.
1
I think that Mr. Pruitt was, and is, a terrible choice to head the EPA. But that being said, the criticism that he wastes money flying first class is a little over the top. Do people really expect the most senior people in the US government to sit with the rest of us in the back? There is a certain amount of stature that goes with the highest level jobs and I don't have a problem with my tax dollars paying for those people to sit up front in the plane, as long as that privilege is not abused.
Compared to trump's weekly out of state golf outings, this guy is an ethics SME.
1
EPA absolutely requires a chief who respects science. Religious fundamentalists need not apply.
8
I'll be glad if he goes down with this - he's pretty terrible, and people have floated the idea that he could be possibly tapped to replace Sessions if Trump wants to fire him. Which would be bad. So let's keep up the pressure on Pruitt.
It would seem that Pruitt's greatest achievement will have been to ethically ensnare himself even in an administration notorious for possessing no ethics. It's an oxymoron and a new record low long after we thought it a physical impossibility. It's not enough Scott Pruitt exterminated protections for air, sea, climate and human. Donald Trump has loved his EPA Secretary. Pruitt was his star in a cabinet of washouts and forced errors. Industries overseen by the EPA will now get to huddle with the president and decide which of the worst American polluters-of-the-year will get to carry on the secretary's great works.
6
When these guys are outside of government, they cry about things not being transparent. When they get the job and get questioned about their behavior, they answer like Scott Pruitt “I don’t think that’s even remotely fair to ask that question.” Yes, it is fair to ask if you're taking money from lobbyists.
7
Leaving ultra right wing politics and know-nothing policies aside, what we have watched almost to the point of boredom for the past 17 months or so is the result of incompetent appointees who know nothing about how the federal government works. All of them appointed by a guy with no experience in any kind of government or even a public corporation, so he thinks he and his minion appointees can do anything he says is okay.
The good appointees - yes, there were some - and the truly committed federal professionals have been asked to kiss this “leader’s” ring and fill the air with meaningless platitudes. And worst, they have been asked to compromise their own promise to the American people to uphold the same Constitution the appointees ate ignoring. They are punished when the reject that and they get fired, demoted, or “reassigned.”
The Big Question is this: Can the American form of government survive this kind of reckless behavior for one full presidential term?
I am not confident. I feel a Constitutional crisis in our miserable future.
4
Following Christie's ouster as head of the transition team, Trump turned to Mike Pence. Doesn't Pence deserve blame for the chaotic cabinet and West Wing that keeps our government caught up in tangles?
Here's a November 11, 2016, quote from NYTimes "The reorganization puts the urgent task of selecting cabinet officials and key West Wing posts in the hands of Mr. Pence, whose loyalty to Mr. Trump and deep contacts with the Republican establishment on Capitol Hill are seen as critical to navigating the often politically treacherous transition period." Pence earns an "F".
6
---"“Things are coming in such a wave, it’s obvious that it’s a coordinated campaign,” said David Rivkin, an attorney who represents industry opponents of E.P.A. rules and who has worked closely with Mr. Pruitt for years."
Fox in the hen-house, fox in the hen-house!
7
Rachael Maddow had an excellent piece this evening on Scott Pruitt that included the same points listed in this article- and in addition, went into some detail about Pruitt's trip to Morocco. The purpose of the trip being to promote the purchase of natural gas by Morocco which must be purchased through one of Carl Ichan's companies.
The absolute, ongoing corruption shown by Pruitt is breathtaking which is why Trump loves him so much. One rotten weasel recognizes another.
12
It is interesting all the security that Pruitt seems to think he needs giant team,bulletproof cars,desks,soundproof rooms.
A little fiefdom organization that so many despots start to create their own reality.
6
Pruitt is secure because of the massive amounts of wealth he is transferring to Trumps cronies a.k.a. campaign financiers via wholesale environmental deregulation. He has been in training in Oklahoma for years, hand picked by Dark Money for his role. He is only a symptom of the corruption in this administration. The disease is much, much worse.
7
"one of the central questions facing the E.P.A. chief — his decision in 2017 to rent a room in Washington from the wife of a top energy lobbyist" -- really? That's a central question for an EPA chief? I hate everything Pruitt is doing, but this story feels like digging for something to bring him down. The only valid path is to convince people not to re-elect Pruitt's appointer.
2
People don’t live by way of isolated acts. There’s always more than is easily apparent. Trump and friends don’t pass the smell test and anything that has been revealed is likely to be the tip of the iceberg.
Pruitt has no business leading the EPA. He's just another Trump patsy and a dishonest one at that. Undoing logical directives for helping the environment is not in the EPA leadership guidelines.
He's a fraud and like his boss, should be removed from office.
6
Pruitt is corrupt and stealing from the American taxpayer. While the GOP are cutting budgets to protect our air, water and soil he is increasing salaries for his cronies and buying expensive nonessential furniture. He wants the US government, in other words The American people, to be more accountable to the oil and gas and companies, and the automotive industry!? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t they be more accountable to the American people...,Our personal health, the health of our planet, humanities future?
Trump voters when you vote for a president you vote for his or her policies. The GOP is the party of greedy big business not working Americans. Please consider voting them all out to send a message that their priorities must change.
4
Trump and his appointees remind one more of a criminal gang than policy experts and skilled administrators.
4
Pruitt is setting the stage for a true Republican nightmare— more government. In short order, we will need a new federal agency whose primary mission is to protect the country from Trump and his band of corrupt apparatchik.
4
Pruitt’s corruption is everywhere.
NBC reported that Pruitt took a First Class trip to Morocco with 7 staff and security detail. The purpose was to lobby Morocco on behalf of Cheniere Energy (and his $50/month condo landlord/Cheniere lobbyist Steven Hart ) to buy LNG. The EPA had no role in LNG sales.
They spent two days in Paris after missing their connection the next day and 4 days in Morocco.
9
He should be fired ! Guess when the children of the conservative base start getting sick from polluted air , water , food , is when it'll sink in ; the harm this man has done . The Heritage Foundation , Tea Patriots , and American for Prosperity are nothing but fronts for billionaires like the Koch brothers et ali . It won't affect them nor their progeny since they can afford to live elsewhere with no pollution. Pruitt is the worse of the lot , afraid Betsy has lost first place .
3
Trump has his back alright! that’s the one with the target on it. Fire Aim Ready!
2
Ethical questions? Mr. Pruitt has none. It is the taxpayers who fund his self-aggrandisements who have the questions.
3
Pruitt is a criminal. His face should be on every newspaper and the details of his corruption listed until Trump acknowledges the truth and fires him. Don't let them change the story. Call them out on every lie.
4
Only in oppositeland is a crooked servant of special interests like Pruitt considered a star. Pruitt hates clean air and water, and ignores established climate science. That the Trump GOP loves such a terrible person is both an indictment on the “administration” and its followers.
4
Pruitt is doing the right thing by Charles and David Koch. He will be fabulously rewarded by them after his exit.
5
and don't forget Devon Energy! in OK they're big players and Pruitt has long been their mole.
There appear to be common threads in this article that apply to a larger data set. Corrupt, Bunker Mentality, Pay to play.
Those threads are recurring themes in the seams of trump teams to graft with aplomb by any means.
They baldly approach as if a piggy bank and pluck on demand while the snout of the lout whose made a rout of ethics slops in his sty.
3
I don't see how a few ethics issues would be cause for concern with this kleptocratic White House when Pruitt vigorously strives every day to do the Koch brothers bidding.
3
Mr. Pruitt, the Heritage Foundation, Tea Party Patriots, and Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group funded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, are the enamy of the people.
2
Scott Pruitt should be charged and given the ultimate punishment for his crimes against humanity.
4
It’s the weekend.....will Mr. Pruitt be the next person to be fired by tweet? I hope so. Good riddance!
3
A fundamental duty of Congress is to provide oversight in situations like this.
Not only does Pruitt have to go, there has to be a criminal investigation of this corrupt and arrogant man.
4
Immoral, unethical...that only leaves illegal. I feel certain if the IG looks hard enough they'll hit the trifecta....
2
I became immune to his environmental destruction, cone of silence, need to fly with armed guards in first class, requires trip to Morocco of all places, rejection of science, firing of scientists, dismissal of climate change, desire to coat our coasts with oil, but OMG - he snared a $50 a nite place in DC is the final straw!!!!
4
Arrogance and stupidity are not a good combination!
4
The pipe Trump purportedly used to “drain” the swamp seems to be instead pumping in more sewage. Very bad and not good!
4
President Trump on EPA Admin. Pruitt: "I think that Scott has done a fantastic job. I think he's a fantastic person."
Let's hope this is another kiss of death from Trump and a harbinger of Pruitt's firing. Who would have thought we would ever have an administration with two psychopaths in it?
3
Is there anyone who doubts that Donald's concept of draining a swamp is to replace it with a cesspool?
5
He is a wolf in wolf's clothing. He can do more damage running EPA than suing it, which is, after all, the Trump manifesto. He is as crooked as a dog's hind leg.
3
---This manner of malfeasance seems to be business as usual for this bunch.
Drain...The White House!
3
Good riddance, though his replacement will be just as incompetent, corrupt, and imbed with Dirty Energy. Where’s Trey Gowdy, Chair of the House Oversight Committee? This pathetic Administration is morally bankrupt and corrupt to the core. Congress is failing us all, bigly.
3
A fish rots from the head down. So it is with Trump and his cabinet: Pruitt, Zinke, Carson, ...
4
Hello Ben and Scott. When I needed a desk I went to the local thrift stores. For fifty bucks I got a great wooden desk with drawers that work. It isn’t bullet proof. I’m not that paranoid. I’m actually using my desk. Do you boys use and enjoy your $30,000 desks more than I do? Please stop spending my tax dollars on over priced furniture. And that goes double for you Mnuchin.
3
Trump just called Pruitt a "good man." In Trumpworld, that's the kiss of death.
3
pruitt is bad to the bone!!! his personal, venal behavior is, in my mind, only the tip of the iceberg. he is mean and vindictive. he wears blinders when it comes to science. he only has interest in protecting carbon users and producers at any cost.
the tactics he uses to protect himself exemplify a person who is paranoid. he is almost as sick as donnie baby!
do we really wonder where he will work after he leaves the epa??
2
If he gives that condo up, can I book it on airbnb?
2
Sounds like this polymath polluted the entire EPA with his brand of 1960s East Germany-style. He will get what he deserves.
3
An imminent and substantial threat to human health and the environment, and perhaps the most complete idiot in a completely idiotic administration. Must go and quickly.
3
Time to go, Scott. Crawl back into that Oklahoma fracking hole you came out of.
4
Is there a single environmental regulation that Democrats believe has gone too far, is so broad as to be unworkable, is just off target or for which the costs outweigh the benefits? No? Then who are the real extremists?
1
I am one of the scientists that have been affected by Pruitt’s deregulations. We are losing our cultural history (Aboriginal primarily). It is not a renewable resource. If we lose it we lose ourselves.
24
This isn't going to blow over Mr. President.
We're fightin' mad. We watched as you did nothing about Carson and his $35,000 table and grifting family, then you did nothing about Zinke's $139.000 doors, nothing about Mulvaney and Mnuchin's travel, and their sudden staff raises -- but this one -- Pruitt will be your poster child for corruption!
35
Pruitt has done exactly what Trump (and most of the GOP Congress and the GOP major donors) wanted. If he goes, it will be because his bad publicity is undercutting Trump's own publicity, which is as necessary for him as oxygen. The rule for appointees in the Trump administration is "Do not get in the way of the spotlight on Trump."
24
Is it possible that virtually no one appointed by Trump to serve this country as a cabinet member has any ethics whatsoever? DeVos, Pruitt, and others have clearly shown or been investigated in a manner which proves how beholden they are to billionaire plutocrats.
We need a lot more IG's operating with this administration.
19
I love it, he's deemed effective because he's rolled back regulations on clean water, clean air and pesticide use. Surely Trump can find "one of the best" to continue to dismantle the EPA who is more ethical.
36
Of course you realize that you can't be Trump's EPA chief and "be ethical". You can't be Trump's anything and be ethical. Mutually exclusive animals.
2
I'm trying to imagine the response of my private sector boss when she discovered I had given two subordinates huge pay raises using an obscure corporate provision, and thus ending around her explicit "No."
Yeah, it wouldn't be pretty.
34
Pruitt knows DJT isn’t too bright and probably wouldn’t care if he abused the public treasury, but what he may not have counted on is DJT’s rule: nobody gets more publicity than DJT.
2
I have no respect for Pruitt but, please, let's get over this intolerance for flying business or 1st class. A departent secretary should be flying business or 1st class, if only for privacy and the fact that it's more conducive to getting some rest. Face it folks, this is only normal. Charter jets, no, but business/first class seems reasonable to me.
8
Right... Except that the Federal Travel Regulations, chapter/section 301-10.105 only allow for economy class travel, except as for two sub-sections not relevant in this case.
If Congress wanted to change that part of the Federal Travel Regulations, and allow presidential appointees to travel business class, they could, but they haven't, so federal employees are only entitled to fly economy class.
It's not about the class of travel, it's about following the established rules where you work.
113
... and that 20+ "security detail" he travels cozily with in first class to protect him from citizens unhappy with the destruction of our environment. Reasonable, too, I assume?
1
Right on Christian!
2
Pruitt should rename the EPA. EDA -environment destruction agency - because that is what he is doing. It is shocking...God help subsequent generations.
47
"But the series of ethical questions is threatening his good standing with the president and driving away some senior staffers."
How could ethical lapses adversely affect one's standing with a person who has no concern for ethics?
41
In fact, Trump has been championing Pruitt for promotion as recently as this week—as Secretary of State, no less. All the ethical violations are just testing his mettle for the real thing. If Trump can wrangle it, Pruitt is surely the man to fire Bob Mueller five minutes after Sessions clears out his office.
11
Consider a sustainable planet and quality of life for future generations and measure what government has in store for your children and grandchildren. Proud of that legacy? Maybe time for change?
19
To be fair, the EPA is charged with maintaining the nation's wetlands, so Mr. Pruitt expanded the traditional oversight and decided to create new wetlands, aka swamps, in the EPA'S politics and in his personal living arrangements. And I can't believe all this leaked out even after he created his first class "cone of silence", charged to me and you of course.
43
Pruitt isn't interested in protecting our environment. He is only interested in protecting himself. He sounds like a clone of his boss.
32
Pruitt has to travel first class because when he travels coach, with regular citizens, people are mean to him. When he goes on television, even on Fox, interviewers ask him unfair questions. Poor Scott. People are so mean to him and so unfair. I can't imagine why.
Could we please get some grownups in this administration? You know, the kind who actually take the charge of public service seriously. This guy is as corrupt as his boss.
92
First we need a grown up leader...ya know, one who doesn’t crave attention all the time and actually knows what a president should be doing.
4
Pruitt gets fired; returns to Oklahoma; runs for Governor; gets elected. Same circus different arena
20
Plausible scenario except that OK teachers are bravely calling out dead-end hypocrisy at the state level. Pruitt's big moment may have passed. Let's hope he doesn't take the planet down with him.
3
Well, it is Oklahoma after all where school teachers have to go on strike for fair wages/school supplies, while energy execs are revered.
1
"Asked if renting from the wife of a Washington lobbyist violated Mr. Trump’s mantra of “draining the swamp,” Mr. Pruitt responded, 'I don’t think that’s even remotely fair to ask that question.'"
More conservative snowflakes who love to talk tough, but then start whining about how unfair it is when people ask them simple questions about their own actions and knowledge. This reminds me of when Sarah Palin called a question about what publications she reads to stay informed a "gotcha question." Similarly, Trump's apologists assert that because their leader is a known liar any attempt to elicit sworn testimony from him is a nefarious "perjury trap." Sessions, unforgiving in his demands of witnesses throughout his legal career, whines about how unfair Congress is to hold him to the same standards.
There isn't even enough space in this box to raise the issue of how Pruitt's acceptance of $50/night lodgings in a condo partially owned by a lobbyist's wife constitutes a mere "appearance" of impropriety. The man going around literally embracing the industry execs and trying scientific data (and probably the scientists who gathered it if he could).
33
Once again, despicable. The greed, craven quest for personal advantages, (first class travel, cheap DC housing, bestowing outrageous raises on"friends from Oklahoma") is ignoble. And then Scott Pruitt goes on TV and declares that a legitimate question should not be asked. Who does he think he is, Louis XIV? He is the epitome of the gutless, shameless crew of sleaze that Trump has hired. Drain the swamp?? He's flooding it with
corrupt gluttons whose only "work" seems to be enriching themselves.
44
OK, so he occasionally used this $50 a night room, for whatever reasons. Unanswered questions: Didn't he have an actual residence in Washington, and if not, why not? This is not a guy accustomed to living like a college student. How often was he showing up at the office, and how often was he gallivanting back to Oklahoma, and at whose expense? And of course, what's up with the apparent no-show job for the top aide?
22
No actual residence in Washington. Just needed a place to nap without, apparently, telling anyone.
13
Hmmmm. Like a no tell motel....
Pruit should resign as his adviser is about to do, but they should both pay back what they took, we should demand that they reimburse all theirs extravagant expenses .
33
The advancement of the idea that $50/night for a Washington DC place, even if exceptionally modest, is pushing the limits of credibility. The EPA ethics counsel needs some remedial classes if s/he thinks that such a thing is just peachy.
By no stretch is that rate for a place that a Secretary would stay in even pass the sniff test from a mile away.
Where is the investigative reporting, looking to see for instance what the taxes per day alone would run, say nothing of what the property is worth and how other properties in the area are renting out.
I assume he paid utilities and internet with hotels and motels charging $10/night for high speed access.
But I guess you have to cut corners where ever you can to help pay for your $100,000/month Gulfstream to get around.
Who is the EPA's ethicist and how about a report on other decisions they have made?
20
There's no ethical leaders there these days and they wouldn't know what ethics are any way...they have none.
12
Did the cone of silence stay in the same $50.00 room with him? Or did it have its own room?
MAGA people are so sad that they are taking this grift. They didn't want to drain the swamp they just wanted a conservative one.
16
Everyone knows who Pruitt is. That is why trump likes him, and will do all he can to keep him.
14
Scott Pruitt is an insult to the EPA, a de facto lobbyist for the carbon-fuel industry. Conservatives, liberals and in-betweens inhale the same air but Pruitt's message is: Let them breathe dirty air.
28
Common decency would be a nice touch. Pruitt seems to possess none of it. Rich, white, male and entitled. How do you sleep at night Mr. Pruitt?
22
Quite well, probably.
2
I'm so glad that Pruitt took advantage of his position and finagled an intern position for his daughter at the WH. Something that the rest of us would have to run the gauntlet to do, yet this low bottom feeder works to get the daughter an internship. This really galls me. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. They want a reputable republican that I can stand as Administrator ? Christie Todd Whitman. She at least has a conscience.
20
Mr Pruitt is getting ready to find out that karma stinks. He earned it.
28
Day after day, week after week, the stories continue about the ineptitude and/or the corruption in this Administration. The sense of entitlement is simply breathtaking, yet, it continues. Of course, not a single one of the individuals involved cares a whit.
It almost seems that Trump is deliberating trying to hire the worst of the worst.
I never realized just how much damage one president could do in just one year.
46
The saddest thing about this is that none of Mr. Pruitt's financial corruption really matters. Sure, he's giving away tens of thousands to friends, but government officials have always done this, some corruption always exists in the system.
The saddest thing, rather, is that Mr. Pruitt is charged with protecting the environment, and he has worked ceaselessly to prevent protection of the environment. Under the slashed regulations, American air, water, and land stands to become as toxic as it was in the 40's or worse.
So the problem is not that Mr. Pruitt is stealing money, it is that due to him, pollution, extinctions, cancer rates, and all sorts of environmental negatives are going to rise. And that doesn't bother the GOP at all, and that's why I see the GOP as anti-Earth, anti-humanity, and downright evil.
95
I couldn't agree more. Anything that can make this guy go away is good of course but there is something very wrong when it's ok to destroy the environment, and that at a critical juncture in the history of the planet, and not ok to overpay for a hotel room.
21
the larger problem is, if he goes, just another incompetent grifter who cares not one whit for the environment takes his place. Personal gain is now the status quo.
16
A sinking ship has no rats left!
9
As many times as Gail Collins has had us vote for the worst cabinet member, Scott Pruitt was always my choice. Even before his ethical lapses, I always felt he was the most dangerous and rapacious of Trump’s swamp monsters. I doubt anyone appointed after him would be much better, but Scott Pruitt, in his display of arrogance and his defilement of our environment deserves his comeuppance.
29
I had to read this post three times. I didn’t recall posting but golly, those seemed like my words. You plucked my words right from my mouth. I am in distress over the deliberate harm Pruitt is wreaking. He is actually managing to hurt every single American, personally, daily. Please let it end. Let the nightmare of national self-destruction stop.
2
Would love to see Pruitt pay for every dime of taxpayer money he was not approved to use, and then go to jail.
37
So these people are willing to destroy the environment and threaten the future of humanity and the planet by being complicit in climate change denial, but they are troubled by "public criticism of their boss."
How shallow can you get.
It's too late to repair the stain on their resumes.
19
I’m no apologist for Scott Pruitt, but the allowances we provide to our high-ranking public officials to move to DC and begin their new jobs is ludicrous.
In 2004 I was asked by my San Francisco-based company to open an office for them in Singapore. I was given a $75,000 allowance for two years to adjust to new living conditions, payment of $10,000 or so to move household furnishings, three months rent in a two-bedroom furnished apartment until I found my own living quarters, and an on-call helper in Singapore to help me set up a bank account, get a utility hook-up, etc. I flew Business Class at least one a month to our offices in Tokyo or San Francisco.
All of this simply allowed me to get to work quickly on the company’s business without worrying about personal set-up costs in a new country or coming out-of-pocket for these extra expenses. Flying Business Class allowed me to work productively during the 15 or so hours in the air and to arrive at my destination reasonably ready to get to various meetings.
None of this was considered particularly unusual in the private sector. They were simply common sense practices to keep senior managers healthy and productive.
Again, I’m not an apologist for Scott Pruitt and disagree with virtually everything he’s done at EPA. But to force high-level civil servants to scrimp and scrape while trying to start their new responsibilities is both foolish and counterproductive.
13
This is government business, not a private company. As such, the money that Pruitt is spending, clearly on private comforts and vacations, not E.P.A. business, is coming from the tax payers' pockets. That's the difference.
43
Jon...it’s called public service for a reason.
38
This why it is called public service. Pruitt is rich enough to pay for nicer air travel or accommodation if he needs it. All government-funded officials travel Economy class...we are on the public's dime.
24
Pruitt hails from a state and political life that’s wholly corrupt—just look what Republican extremists have done to the sorry state of Oklahoma. Hound him out of the EPA, even though he’s done terrible damage to our country and the honest, longstanding employees of the EPA already.
26
America needs Scott Pruitt in "Justice" so he can protect our "precious bodily fluids" with toxic chemicals and other deadly living toxins.
Keep your allergic, polluted, teary eyes on Pruitt.
6
The High Priest of Trump's Flat Earth Society did not come to DC to drain the swamp -- he came (along with so many of the president's "Best Men") to drain what's left of the nation's bank account. And he brought his friends along with him.
The only thing Pruitt appears to be best at is spending the taxpayer's dollars on first class travel while undermining the safety of the nation's air, water, and food supply.
He must really believe that being rich will protect him and his family from all the damage he is doing to the environment he is supposed to be protecting.
He can't leave Washington soon enough -- he can pay his own way this time.
29
Since he will be gutting the agency, there will be plenty of money to pay for his first class travel and provide raises for a couple of aides. Where's the problem? This is they way Republican's balance budgets.
7
Pruitt should be forced to leave the EPA because he has worked tirelessly from day one to undermine and subvert the organization's mission. If ethics are what bring him down then so much the better for our country. Republicans can simply not be trusted to be in charge of organizations whose mission it is to work for the betterment of society as a whole.
35
Infuriating. I have to have ethics training every year as a federal employee. I have to avoid the appearance of impropriety as well as follow strict rule about travel for work that is reimbursed. Guess I'm just a victim of "regulatory overreach".
47
I hear you. I spend hours making my travel plans to make sure I book the approved flights and hotels and go over the travel reimbursement voucher as if my life depended on it simply b/c my job does. If I make an error and book a wrong flight, or use a gov't credit card in error for non-govt' charge, it is a referral to the Office of Professional Responsibility. This guy is an insult to the federal workforce.
8
Let's not forget the $25,000 soundproof booth, the 24 hour security detail, the armed guards, all extras costing taxpayers.
30
Do genuine conservatives ever note that these "conservative" appointees are most often profligate in private habits? Reluctant to utilize government to defend the environment or the public, but readily using government resources to extend their own reach?
15
He''ll be gone as soon as Stormy Daniels'case progresses to the next phase.
8
Mr. Pruitt’s corruption, disrespect for science, dishonesty, and lack of concern for public health do not make him a “hero” for THIS conservative. Don’t forget a person can be fiscally conservative and respectful of tradition while working as a physician and a scientist. Remember that the EPA began during Nixon’s administration. The bundling of conservatism with Steve Bannon’s “deconstruction of the administrative state” was a cynical strategy that has been wantonly destructive of precious social capital. I’m a former Republican, and I’d like my old party back!
120
Surely many Republicans are good people. Thank You for your candor.
10
Pruitt has been tasked with destroying the E.P.A. and he's been doing an excellent job turning it into the Environmental Pollution Agency. He has instituted policies that not only weaken his agency, they cause great harm to the environment. All this to serve his masters in the fossil fuel and chemical industries. His policies toward fracking in Oklahoma caused hundreds of earthquakes there. He denies science, claims global warming is a fiction, and redacts agency publications and policies in favor of polluters. He is, in a word, malignant.
If this were not enough, he leads a privileged life, renting from a lobbyist landlord at ridiculously low rates and flying first class till he was caught.
Anyone who sticks with him at this point must be as committed to the destruction of the environment as he is.
23
Pruitt, like the entire Trump administration, has been a disaster from the very beginning: a climate change denier whose goal has been to destroy the very agency he's been appointed to lead. He needs to go. Yesterday.
21
I have one question if Congress created these various agencies and the trump administration appointed heads of them that are doing everything in their power to destroy them is that subversion or treason, after they took the oath of office ?
7
As reprehensible as Pruitt's travel and living arrangements appear to be, I'm much more concerned about his dismantling of the EPA. Even if he goes, the destruction will continue with some other awful Trump appointee.
How ironic modern Republicans are wrecking an agency RIchard Nixon started.
14
Nowhere does it say that these aides are leaving the EPA due to ethical lapses or mismanagement. We can only assume that they see a sinking ship and want off. Up until now, they were willing to stay during the gutting of environmental regulations and a chief with unethical behavior in such regards as his travel, his housing, and even using a drinking water act to give raises to his cronies. These aides are just as complicit.
12
Trump's buddy are just too greedy. They could wait and make millions working for the corporations that they have been governing for, but they can't wait and insist on getting hundreds or thousands from tax payers while still in office. Maybe this greed will just speed their exit into the corporate world.
8
Dear Mr. Pruitt,
Since your judgement is the issue here, what you consider fair or not won't be part of the discussion.
Regards,
Citizens of the USA
9
Christ, of course he's leaving. This Friday or next preferably. The Trump administration is pretty predictable in this regard, no? Once POTUS announces that he's happy with the cabinet member and that cabinet member is not leaving, and Trump announces that amidst constant reports of the opposite, then, yes, it's another episode of White House Apprentice and off they go, waving sadly as the cab makes its way down Pennsylvania Avenue. What?Not enough drama in that for you? I'm a spectator. I don't write these episodes. I leave that to the 'creatives' at the WH.
10
What does the ironic term "policy adviser" mean in this context? Ability to take dictation from the Koch brothers?
15
Nixon started the EPA after the "Love Canal" scandal. The poison dmped into the canal affectded many homeowners, and in the end the taxpayers had to pay. Remember this when someone says that the economy needs fewer restraints, like clean air and water.
8
No, the Love Canal pollution crisis was discovered years after Nixon resigned. Get your facts right. Maybe look up EPA in an on-line encyclopedia.
1
OK, good point. In my memory, the Love Canal made a bigger impression than earlier disasters such as the fires in the Cuyahoga river, the poison dump by the Aerojet Corp. in California. In toto, the mood of the US then was "Enough!" and something was done. Now some people want this undone.
It's amazing to me that intentionally poisoning the environment he is paid to protect isn't what Pruitt's in trouble for.
19
Under any other Republican or Democratic president, Mr. Pruitt would have already been fired. This is real corruption.
For example: $50 a night for a brownstone apartment in downtown DC with a second room for his daughter? Pruitt told the EPA ethics folks something different but that was a lie. A family would pay $250 or $300 for a DC hotel room--if they booked many months in advance. The apartment was owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist who is working for clients that presently have applications that are being considered by the EPA and other agencies.
EPA staff are paid but rarely show up for work.
9
The last line in my comment should have been deleted, starting "EPA staff ..."
When rats like Dravis start bailing ship, it's only a matter of time before an alpha rodent like Pruitt gets thrown under the bus by his boss.
My hope is that he seeks an elected office so we are reminded of his work at EPA, his complete lack of ethics and his curious relationship with the truth. Like all Trump officials.
Only question now is whether or not he'll buy a coach or a first class ticket for his flight home to Oklahoma. Or which oil company will lend him one of their private jets. For all he's done for them, they should give him one.
11
He's toast.
Fox New is basically an arm of the White House communications office. That is a Fox News interviewer going hard after Pruitt, complete with edgy interruptions - not even giving him a chance to answer the questions - and smirks of disbelief when he does. There is not a chance in the world Fox News goes after a Trump administration official like that without the blessing of the White House. Not a chance. Plus, Pruitt is a weasel. (This is the guy who has to fly first class because the unwashed say not nice things to him.) There's no way he does that interview if he knew it would go down like that. He was probably told going in he'd be getting some soft pitches over the middle of the plate to hit out of the park, and instead he got beaned, repeatedly. This was a set up. He'll be gone in less than a week.
18
most of the trump appointees are political hacks who lack the strength of character to manage the responsibilities & privileges bestowed onto them. the others are snobs who think they can do as they please with tax payers money. amateurs!
10
Pruitt on draining the swamp "I don't think it's even remotely fair to ask that question."
Well I don't think it's remotely fair that your policy advisor simply doesn't show up for her job but still draws her undoubtedly large taxpayer funded salary. Nor was it fair that you used the Clean Water Drinking Act - that you're doing your best to destroy - to give very large raises to your aids as a reward for finding the cushy deal on your rental from a lobbyist whose husband has millions of dollars in fines being litigated by your office.
You're mighty generous with tax dollars - your $25,000 phone booth, your first class travel, trips to Morocco (why do you need to go to Morocco?), and your unusually large round the clock security detail.
It's also not fair that your trying to foul the air, water and soil that sustains us while your hand is grabbing all the cookies it can out of Uncle Sam's big cookie jar.
Since it's all so unfair, why don't you take your cookies and go home. I'm sure the Koch's will treat you just fine.
25
It wouldn't surprise me that Trump picks Ted Nugent to replace Pruitt if he resigns or gets fired.
6
Actually, remember that old comic book character, ‘Swamp Thing’? Here it comes...
Anyone who considers themselves ethical or a patriot would’ve never joined this corrupt admin in the first place.
10
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the was asked whether Mr. Trump was “O.K.” with Mr. Pruitt’s apartment arrangement. “The president’s not,” she said. "
Likely because he didn't stay in one of Tramp's hotels (I'm sure he would have gotten a preferred rate).
7
Trump isn’t disgusted with the impropriety. Rather, he’s not backing Pruitt anymore simply because Pruitt has completed most of his dirty work and is now expendable. Trump is tearing a page out of Stalin’s book about how to keep underlings from becoming competitors.
The silver lining: If Trump fires him, hopefully that will dash Pruitt’s prospects for the higher national office to which he aspires.
13
When you say "conservative hero, " I reach for the detergent to get rid of the sleaze and slime. This guy is as toxic for his surroundings and for ethics as an environmental super site.
3
Welcome to the club, EPA staffers, as you discover an immutable fact of life: no matter how many times you wash, the stench of working for the Trump administration will remain forever, just like the blood on Henry Kissinger's hands.
8
This is really hilarious and ironic. Scott Pruitt is out Trumping Trump. He is gutting the EPA and feathering his own nest at the same time. Trump "has Pruitt's back", while Pruitt circumvents Trump in handing out raises and cashing in with the oil executives. Trump is so smart, that he better watch his back. The first time for a transgression is a mistake, the second is on purpose, the third time is you are stupid. That is what Scott Pruitt is doing to Trump. But then we all know that.
7
So she took the bullet for her boss - please hurry Mr Mueller!
4
The head rots from the fish down.
3
Doesn't anyone have a kind word to say about Scott Pruitt? Mrs. Pruitt?
3
As a guy in his 50's whose name is Scott (most guys named Scott are in their 50's...), I'd have to say his name conjures up an image of a handsome, devil-may-care granite-jawed brainiac who can just as easily pilot his own jet as flawlessly toss off the Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto. And this while translating Linear B into middle-high German.
Can't speak for Mrs. Pruitt though.
4
Would you buy a used planet from Scott Pruitt?
10
You know you're in trouble when even Fox News is on your case. It's time to go...
14
According to Pruitt, "The officials should not have done what they did." Funny, that sounds very similar to last week's comments by Ben Carson "....my wife ordered the dining room set." And then, who could forget the musing by their boss wondering if in fact, that was his voice on the recording when he bragged of grabbing women by the genitalia.
It sounds like some dangerous contagion has invaded this Administration. Blamesomeoneelseititis.
16
I think it's called affluenza. Pruitt and Zinke are the two most dangerous and damaging members of the cabinet. Our only hope is to flip the congress and have them testifying in person every single day about every single action they have taken. That will keep them so occupied they can't do any more damage until their actions can all be reversed.
4
Pruitt (with Trump's approval) is poisoning the air and water that tens of millions of Americans and our children breathe and drink. I somehow lack compassion for what becomes of Pruitt's place in Trump's cabinet.
25
Pruitt's Chief of Staff and his top policy advisor might be commended if their recommendations and policy advice were being ignored or if they were troubled by the direction the Pruitt EPA has taken and did not want to be part of an organization whose mission and reason for existence was being undermined from the top.
Maybe they feel Pruitt's days are numbered and its time to find another job. After all, they are still Americans, and have monthly bills to pay.
The real "tell" about a Pruitt decision to leave "to spend more time with his family" will be when his security detail begins to look for new employment at rates above and beyond beyond the usual high "turnover" in the Trump administration.
12
The rallying cry in the president's campaign in the 2016 run up to the election was to "drain the swamp" meaning throw out all the career politicians and all others that are part and parcel of the political landscape that he wanted to get rid of. Of course that was just another "Madison Avenue" slogan from the same campaign that gave us "Make America Great Again." Scott Pruitt of the EPA was one appointed to do just that for both slogans. But he winds up doing neither primarily because he knows very little about draining a swamp or making America great again. Instead of "building" and "adding on" to the EPA's successes of the past three administrations, he is tearing down all the work done by the EPA over the last 43 years since the Ford Administration. We have come to expect the president's denigration of the past three administrations, but Pruitt does him one better by his actions in decapitating every administration going back to Ford. Since Washington is only a rhetorical swamp it would do the EPA secretary well to learn that swamps are an integral part of the eco-system but if you are going to drain one, you build something (like a levee) not tear things down; then you unplug (the draining ditches) or in the case of Washington getting rid of meaningful problems surgically, not by using a bulldozer.
83
Of course, the worst of Pruitt is the damage he has done to environmental regulations. Ethical lapse pale by comparison.
I would love to see Pruitt go, but so far when Trump cans someone in his administration, the replacement is generally worse.
81
Scott Pruitt's problem is that he feels entitled to act just like Donald Trump.
But Donald Trump doesn't agree. In his mind, every perk, privilege, favor, and extra dollar that can be squeezed out of our government belongs to him alone.
This doesn't bode well for Pruitt immediately, and Trump eventually. Party loyalty be darned, the voters will eventually get tired of all the greedy siphons sucking at the public trough.
60
If Trump doesn't have your back, you'll be fired on Friday night. If Trump does have your back, well, you'll be fired by Friday night just the same. Not looking good for Pruitt.
Is there anyone who would be worse to lead the EPA?... because you know that's who Trump wants as a replacement.
53
The Swamp was drained and then filled with Swamp Monsters.
24
Scott Pruitt is THE worst thing to happen to America. He is even worse than Trump. The way he is literally destroying the Agency and the Landscape that he is sworn to protect is an insult beyond belief.
Pruitt thinks that fracking is more important than clean water. He thinks money is more important than clean air. He has no Soul. He has no Ethics.
There are many pigs lined up at the trough in our Nation's Capital, but Pruitt is the worst.
245
It is past time for Mr. Pruitt to leave government service. He had questionable behavior in his role as our state's Attorney General. That poor behavior has increased with his increase in power. He is costing taxpayers millions now, and our entire planet for an eternity. He is a mouthpiece, speaking for the industries he is to regulate. He was in Oklahoma, and he is now. But now, he can hurt far more people. Surely Trump will not put up with these bad optics much longer, even if he is fine with dishonest acts and ethical lapses as big and wide as the GOP Elephant.
53
Budget minded courtiers of Trump pay at least $425 a night to stay at the Trump DC while his cabinet members get to sleep at the home of an energy lobbyist's wife for $50. This swamp is as deep as it is wide.
65
How is it possible that this fundamentally anti-environment head of the EPA is being taken to task on his travel, of all things?
14
Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion, Jonas.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of the the good.
85
Having lived in OK during Pruitt's tenure, his past is riddled with similar, though not as grand scale, as these incidents. He was court ordered to release his email ( he had a private account at work as well as a government one) and only half were released. His successor has not released the remaining ones, with the excuse he was "too busy" to sort through them all. He released the results of a Superfund fraud investigation to the subject but refused to release the results to the public or any other government officials. Crooked as a snake is an insult to the snake when compared to Pruitt.
140
"Mr. Pruitt reappointed the aides with higher salaries under a provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act after the White House did not approve the raises."
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is the principal federal law in the United States intended to ensure safe drinking water for the public. Pursuant to the act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set standards for drinking water quality and oversee all states, localities, and water suppliers that implement the standards.
The SDWA applies to every public water system in the United States. There are currently over 151,000 public water systems providing water to almost all Americans.
Scott Pruitt's use of the Safe Drinking Water Act appears to be limited to not enforcing it and using it for staff raises.
I think America has had enough of this Dr. Evil who helped make Oklahoma the fracking wastewater injection earthquake capital of America.
Get this sociopath as far away from government and public policy as possible.
297
It is impropriety. Not the "appearance of" impropriety. It is the trump swamp. So, to review -- paying $50 per nite for a "room" in lobbyist-owned, million dollar plus, DC condo where congressional republicans hold fundraisers and meet escorts is impropriety.
78
Scott Pruitt is head of the EPA - the Environmental POLLUTION Agency.
24
Scott Pruitt is running the Environmental Pollution Agency.
29
Neo-Luddite autocrat-in-training Pruitt did everything he could to undermine the EPA in his Oklahoma job, and is obviously drunk with power, salivating at the opportunity to make the EPA irrelevant. How did his appointment satisfy Trump's constitutional duty to "preserve, protect and defend" America? The quicker he's gone, the less damage done, and less to repair later.
96
Pruitt doesn't want to return to Oklahoma because with all the deregulation there, it has become a center for small earthquakes because of all the oil fracking.
And besides, now he can ruin the whole country. He's got bigger fish to fry!
54
Wow. When even this president thinks you've done something wrong, if only because the optics are bad, you must really be corrupt. The question is, why bring in incompetents like Pruitt to begin with? He's not there to head up the EPA, he's there to dismantle it, brick by brick, person by person, regulation by regulation. This obviously thrills Pruitt greatly, to hold this much power, but if ever there was someone who needed to be booted out, it's him. It's ultimately Trump's fault for picking stooges who will do his dirty work but are too stupid to understand why everyone, including Pruitt's own staffers, are deeply concerned.
64
I'm a govt employee. I have to take ethics training every year. My travel expenses are scrutinized to the penny. I would NEVER get away with what these folks are getting away with.....UNBELIEVABLE.
And if they are not happy? Good, don't let the door hit them n the backside on their way out!
$50/night in Wash DC? Where can I find that deal? Never mind the lobbyist connection. If you are not paying market a rate....guess what.....IT'S A GIFT. Doesn't matter if it is from a lobbyist or from your uncle.
Drain the swamp my behind.....
385
I had the same ethics lawyer who said Pruitt's fiasco was fine tell me that EPA employees could not take a free online training course because it would violate ethics rules.
21
How can we get rid of Pruitt AND have all his policy revisions erased? Has that ever been done in history?
78
Yes it can be done. Vote. It matters.
19
Agreed, VOTE them out.... Blue Wave
I can just see these senior staff persons joining the EPA, you know the "US Environmental Protection Agency", which was created to protect human health and the environment (air, water, land), knowing full well they will be doing the exact opposite of the agency's mission. Deregulating, rolling back standards and doing the bidding of multinational companies that the agency is there to protect the people from. So now they are looking to leave their positions, not because of the environmental disaster they are creating, but because of optics of the ethics involving Pruitt?! Ids there any person with even a small speck of integrity or moral fortitude left in government? Shame on everybody involved.
115
The ones with ethics are most likely the ones leaving. It makes one heartsick to work for Republican administrations.
6
If the $50/night condo is not a "sweetheart deal," then anyone should be able to rent it from Vicki Hart, the owner, at the same rate. Right? Would be interesting to try.
187
Nanci - the Washington DC housing bureau should be looking at that.
I doubt that Pruitt is in trouble with Trump—he has very cozy ties with leaders of the industries he’s supposed to be regulating, and Trump wouldn’t want to ditch someone so adept at swinging the ax when it comes to long-established environmental regulations.
31
Understanding that the EPA chief has a serious Napoleonic complex puts everything he does in perspective.
34
Pruitt embodies the swamp. Send him packing to one of the swamps he is destroying with his reckless disregard for our home planet.
127
Scott Pruitt will never resign. He's been dreaming of this opportunity to dismantle the EPA for years.
I saw Pruitt on Meet the Press and they asked some good questions but I have yet to see a news anchor ask him if he is carrying out the core mission of the EPA: Is he Protecting the Environment? He speaks of the departments overreach and legality, but I have yet to hear him speak of protecting the environment. Is there any law or action he has done to protect the environment? If not, he should be fired. Regardless of political views.
367
Pruitt and Zinke are two players on the Koch, Mercer & other billionaires Dark Money Dream Team. The setbacks they have already caused in increasing environmental degradation and accelerating us toward the worst case climate change climate change scenario cannot be undone.
86
Trump just called Pruitt a good man, so he's out.
4