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Trump acknowledges US EPA chief Pruitt may not be blameless in recent scandals

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Trump acknowledges US EPA chief Pruitt may not be blameless in recent scandals

President Donald Trump's support for his embattled chief of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may be waning following revelations that Scott Pruitt used agency staff to conduct personal business.

"Scott Pruitt is doing a great job within the walls of the EPA. We're setting records," Trump told reporters in Washington, D.C., on June 8 as he prepared to depart for the G-7 meetings in Canada. "Outside, he's being attacked very viciously by the press, and I'm not saying that he's blameless, but we'll see what happens."

SNL Image

President Donald Trump and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt shake hands in the White House Rose Garden during the president's June 2017 announcement that he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Source: AP Images

Trump in the past has used the phrase "we'll see what happens" shortly before announcing the termination of a cabinet member, such as when Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon were let go in 2017. Trump also used the phrase in the lead up to his firing of FBI Director James Comey. But the president also has said the same repeatedly with respect to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who remains in that role even though the two often have been at odds.

The president's comments come as several instances of questionable conduct have brought Pruitt into the mainstream consciousness. Most recently, one of Pruitt's long-term staffers, who has since resigned from the agency, told lawmakers that she was asked to run personal errands and set up meetings with Chick-fil-A executives to discuss a franchise opportunity for the administrator's wife.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan on June 8 seeking a criminal investigation into whether Pruitt used his public office for personal gain when his staff reached out to the Chick-fil-A executives. When asked about the incident by reporters, Pruitt did not deny that he had inquired about the franchise opportunity.

Pruitt also is the subject of more than a dozen probes undertaken by the EPA's inspector general, other government ethics officials and the White House itself. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney opened an investigation into the EPA's purchase of a $43,000 private phone booth after the U.S. Government Accountability Office in April found the purchase was a violation of the Antideficiency Act.

The EPA chief also has seen eroding support from some Republicans as well as calls to clear the air and get back to policy issues amid the mounting number of scandals.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on June 4 indicated that the White House is "looking into" Pruitt's conduct. But the president so far has maintained his support of the EPA chief, touting Pruitt's accomplishments in rolling back the previous administration's regulations.

"Thank you, Scott, very much. EPA is doing very, very well. Somebody has to say that. You know that, Scott. ... So many approvals and disapprovals," Trump told Pruitt, according to a June 6 pool report.