President Donald Trump offered two words in defense of his scandal-plagued Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt on Thursday.
“I do,” Trump told reporters when asked if he still had confidence in the administrator.
Perhaps he does, for now.
The comment comes amid reports that Trump was unimpressed with Pruitt’s interviews with Fox News and The Washington Examiner on Wednesday. The White House reportedly advised against speaking with the press, as Pruitt scrambled to clean up his image amid ongoing negative reports.
Trump reportedly called Pruitt earlier this week to reassure him of his support when reports surfaced that Pruitt defied the White House in order to get his closes aides a raise and rented a room in a home owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist last year for $50 a day.
Earlier Thursday, White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley told Fox News that he “can’t speak to the future of Scott Pruitt.”
We know you’re itching to unleash that You"re Fired! tweet
Just give it up Mango Menace
He’s gone and you know it.
It’s just those calls from the Kochs and Mercer slowing you down
Fredo Pruitt…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjUOBVAbGhQNo, those are scary and hard (I don’t think he’s ever actually done it). It’ll be “I am very excited to announce our great new EPA head so-and-so! Thanks to Scott Pruit [typo intended] for his great work at the agency”
Trump has confidence that Pruitt will continue to deny scientific findings, roll back regulations and relax enforcement to the detriment of public health, continue his unblemished record of self-dealing, and build a resume of industry-fellating “achievements” that will help him become the next governor of Oklahoma, in which position he can harry the next EPA administrator who has an actual interest in doing the job for the public good.
Give it up, Scotty, you can always go back and become an underpaid teacher in Okiehoma…