EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Resigns After String of Scandals
*By Alisha Haridasani*
Scott Pruitt, the embattled chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, resigned Thursday afternoon, following months of scandals about his spending practices and a trail of questions about possible ethical violations.
“I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt,” President Trump tweeted on Thursday. “Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this.”
In remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday, Trump said the decision to resign was Pruitt's alone. "He felt that he did not want to be a distraction for an administration that he has a lot of faith in," Trump said.
Pruitt’s deputy, Andrew Wheeler, will be the new acting chief of the EPA, who the president described as "a very environmental person."
Pruitt’s deputy, Andrew Wheeler, will be the new acting chief of the EPA, the president said.
In the resignation letter that Pruitt sent to President Trump, he said "it is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role."
But he then said, "the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us."
Pruitt has been accused of a [seemingly unending list](https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/06/politics/scott-pruitt-controversies-list/index.html) of offenses, including misusing taxpayer money to fly home on a private jet, enlisting his aides to help his wife find a job or find a particular moisturizer, renting out a condo ー at a discount ー from a health care lobbyist, and installing a $43,000 sound-proof phone booth in his office.
Despite his scandal-ridden tenure, his resignation came as a surprise to many in Washington because just a day prior to the announcement, Pruitt celebrated the July 4th holiday at the White House.
Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general, made a name for himself by suing the very agency he would end up leading, urging the EPA to roll back regulations. That stance, which pleased many Republicans, is the reason he managed to cling on to his job for over a year despite the scandals, said Phil Wegmann, writer at the Washington Examiner.
"He was doing a good job of deregulation, of beating back a lot of the policies of the Obama administration had put in place," he said.
"If you filter out all of the personal scandals, he's not doing a bad job in the eyes of this administration."
But the fact that the ethical scandals eventually caught up to him signals that there is a limit to how much conservatives were willing to ignore, said Wegmann.
"Eventually it was just too much and he got the boot."
His replacement, a former coal lobbyist who is likely to pursue the same regulatory rollback agenda as Pruitt, may not clean up the EPA's act and instead might find himself involved with "corporate cronyism," said Wegmann.
"This is like replacing the fox in the hen house with a wolf in the hen house."
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/epa-chief-scott-pruitt-resigns)
Catching you up on what you Need to Know on Mar 21, 2022, with updates on the Russian invasion in Ukraine, a Boeing 737-800 plane carrying 132 people crashed in China, Canadian Pacific rail workers on strike, another possible COVID surge, and the SEC's new climate rules for businesses.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has told senators that she will defend the Constitution and decide cases “without fear or favor” if she is confirmed to the Supreme Court.
David Stryzewski, CEO of Sound Planning Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says he believes pent-up demand is driving stocks higher and explains how Wednesday's Fed decision continues to impact investor sentiment.
Rachel Thomas, the co-founder and CEO of the non-profit Lean In, joined Cheddar amid Women's History Month, to discuss how the organization is taking on issues that continue to impact the workplace through its Circles program. "These are a program that brings women together in small groups, usually 8 to 12, for support, camaraderie, and to learn together," she said. "We also we have a lot of curriculum so women can learn how to navigate workplace biases, how to negotiate with women." Thomas also applauded President Biden's recent call to action on equal pay for women, noting that businesses must do more to be cognizant of inherent gender and racial biases.
President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping spoke Friday for nearly two hours via a video call as the White House looks to deter Beijing from providing military or economic assistance for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Senate has passed the Sunshine Protection Act to permanently set U.S. clocks to daylight saving time — meaning you won't need to change them twice a year. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) joined Cheddar News to talk about something that hasn't been changed in almost half a century. “Well, I think if you were to start from scratch and have somebody come in and say here's my idea, we're going to have two different times during the year and you're going to shift back and forth between different times and have to reset all your clocks twice a year, you'd probably throw that person out as like having a screw loose," he said regarding the status quo.
Catching you up on what you Need to Know on Mar 18, 2022, with updates on the war in Ukraine, President Biden’s meeting with Xi Jinping, Meta removing a deepfake video of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Britney Griner, vaccine updates, and tech news.
As the Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, medical experts are worried conditions in active warzones will exacerbate the current pandemic — or even give rise to other contagions. Dr. Daniel Fagbuyi, a war veteran and former Obama administration biodefense appointee, joined Cheddar News to discuss the ongoing danger of COVID-19 on top of the war, as well as the potential for new variants to emerge. "I mean just large volumes of people definitely is a breeding ground. That's the worst case," he said. "Two things don't mix: war-conflict and a virus, a potential pandemic virus."
