The Environmental Protection Agency turned down the White House’s offer to help its administrator, Scott Pruitt, prepare for two congressional hearings later this week, the Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
The publication cited two unnamed sources familiar with Pruitt’s preparation for the Thursday hearings, which will be held before subcommittees of the House Appropriations Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
One unnamed source told the Daily Beast that the EPA’s reaction to the White House’s offer of help was, essentially, “get lost.”
The EPA did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment on the report.
TPM asked the White House about the report about whether Pruitt had the President’s confidence.
“We refer you back to Sarah’s response regarding Administrator Pruitt at the briefing yesterday,” assistant White House press secretary Kelly Love wrote in response to TPM’s request for comment. “Nothing further to add.”
On Monday, reporters asked Sanders about the multiple scandals currently facing Pruitt, from handing close advisers five-figure raises using a loophole in administrative law to renting a dirt-cheap townhouse from a lobbyist power couple whose clients had business before the EPA.
Sanders said the White House was “continuing to review” and “monitoring” the various reports on Pruitt’s alleged misconduct.
A waterfall of damaging scandals in recent months has marred the administrator’s reputation as a fierce deregulator dutifully carrying out the White House’s policy goals.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the White House had told congressional Republicans to soften their defenses of Pruitt, one sign that the administrator’s future is uncertain.
