Pruitt in hot water
It’s no secret that the Trump administration has had its number of staffing shakeups in the first year. Call it growing pains, or call it bad hiring decisions. It doesn’t really matter.
However, just when we think we are beginning to have the kinks worked out, there is another Trump Cabinet member who is skating dangerously close to being fired.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has recently come under intense fire for questionable actions he has taken in his current role.
From his out of the ordinary hiring process and heavy security detail (receiving death threats is a common occurrence), to his rental of a below market value rate room on Capitol Hill from a lobbyist (who he says is a longtime family friend) and pay raises for top staff, Administrator Pruitt has landed himself in hot water lately. Now don’t get me wrong, Cabinet members should be held to a high standard of ethics, but some of this outrage is just ridiculous.
Someone even took the time and money to print and post mock advertising posters around Capitol Hill, reading “Luxury condo on Capitol Hill $50 a night!!! Live luxuriously for cheap – just like Scott!”
Do people not have anything better to do with their time?
All this aside, Administrator Pruitt has done a great deal to ease the regulations on the American farmer and rancher. Heck, the repeal of the ”Waters of the United States” rule alone is reason enough to keep him on.
While many in agriculture consider Administrator Pruitt a friend, a large portion of Washington considers him inept and anti-environment. He is undoubtedly one of the most scrutinized members of President Trump’s Cabinet.
Most Americans who support the president don’t give a flip about all of this so-called controversy and outrage by the press and “tree hugging” environmental groups.
In fact, it has become an everyday occurrence that a member of the White House press corps asks Press Secretary Sarah Sanders about Administrator Pruitt’s certainty—or lack thereof—of a job.
She was even asked about hypothetical situations for a hypothetical firing but refused to comment on hypothetical situations—which she has to say all too often.
“The president feels that the administrator has done a good job at EPA,” Sanders said. “He has restored it back to its original purpose of protecting the environment. He has gotten unnecessary regulations out of the way. And, we’re continuing to review any of the concerns we have, and I’ll keep you posted if there’s anything further on that front.”
I don’t know how she takes the verbal harassment on television nearly every day. The White House Press Briefing Room certainly was not this hostile in the Obama days. It must be an exhausting life to live—it sure is just to watch.
Editor’s note: Seymour Klierly writes Washington Whispers for the Journal from inside the Beltway.
