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WASHINGTON (AP) – After months of scandals, Scott Pruitt will entrust the environmental protection agency to a much less brilliant vice president who should continue to serve Pruitt's interests as As Guardian of the Environment
With the departure of Pruitt, President Donald Trump lost a director whom many conservatives considered to be one of the most effective members of his cabinet. But Pruitt had also been sued for months by scandals that spawned more than a dozen federal and congressional investigations
Andrew Wheeler, deputy administrator of the EPA, former lobbyist of the Coal industry, will take the lead from Monday.
Andy Trump tweeted Thursday announcing the resignation of Pruitt.
Republicans say that Wheeler is well qualified to lead the EPA, having worked at the agency early in his career. . He was also one of the key advisers to the Senate Environment Committee before becoming a lobbyist nine years ago.
Democrats and environmental groups have decried Wheeler as an apologist for the coal industry. He is also a former assistant to GOP Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who rejects mainstream climate science.
Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, one of the most relentless and vocal critics of Pruitt's Democratic critics in Congress, said he expected more of the same with Wheeler in as a chef.
"Someone's destructive, I think it's good to have them questioned," Udall said about Pruitt in an interview. "But let's forget not that he was exercising President Trump's policies. "
The prospect of more withdrawals from the EPA even after Pruitt's disappearance is" really, really worrying for me, "he said. said. "The director of the agency has changed, but I do not think there is any indication that the interim administrator will do anything different."
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump continued to praise his EPA leader, saying that there was "no final straw" and he had not asked for Pruitt's resignation. [19659002] "Scott is a great guy," said Trump. "He came to me and said that I had such great confidence in the administration that I do not want to be a distraction … He will make gra "Things and have a wonderful life, I hope."
Pruitt, his letter of resignation to Trump, obtained by The Associated Press, did not express any regret.
"It is extremely difficult for me to stop serving you in this role because I consider it a blessing to serve you from every point of view. happens, "wrote Pruitt. "However, the incessant attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a heavy toll on us all."
Pruitt, a Republican, had appeared on Wednesday at a White House picnic for Independence Day, wearing a red-t-shirt and plaid loafers with gold trim. Trump gave him a brief warning, he and other officials, showing no signs of immediate change in his work.
Pruitt's resignation came several days after two of his closest advisers spoke to investigators on the House oversight committee and revealed new embarrassing details. Samantha Dravis, who recently resigned as Pruitt's police chief, told investigators last week that Pruitt had made it clear to him before and after that he became a director of the EPA. He would like the work of the Attorney General. Jeff Sessions
Pruitt "had hinted that some sort of conversation had taken place between him and the president," Dravis told Congressional investigators, according to a transcript obtained Thursday by the AP. "
Former Attorney General of Oklahoma close to the oil and gas industry, Pruitt had filed more than a dozen lawsuits against the agency that he had chosen for lead. Arriving in Washington DC, he worked tirelessly to dismantle Obama's environmental regulations to reduce toxic pollution and carbon emissions from the planets.
During his tenure of less than two years, Pruitt traveled the country at taxpayers' expense. He was reluctant to listen to defenders whom he described as "environmental left". These groups quickly applauded his departure.
"Despite his brief tenure, Pruitt was the EPA's worst leader in history," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "His corruption has been his downfall, but his pro-polluter policies will make our dirtiest children breathe after his many scandals are forgotten."
Like Trump, Pruitt expressed skepticism about mainstream climate science and was a fierce critic of Paris. climate agreement. The president encouraged the efforts of his EPA chief to boost fossil fuel production and roll back regulations opposed to corporate interests
. A large number of preached or delayed EPA regulations had not yet taken effect, and the tens of thousands of jobs lost by the president never materialized. Class airplane seats and unusual security expenses, including a $ 43,000 soundproof booth to make private phone calls. It also required 24-hour protection from armed agents, which resulted in an increase in security spending of more than $ 3 million for the 20-member team.
Pruitt regularly ordered his staff to do personal chores for him, including picking up his dry cleaning and trying to get a Trump hotel mattress used for his apartment. He had also asked his staff to contact conservative groups and businesses to find a lucrative job for his unemployed wife, including emails seeking a Chick-fil-A franchise from a senior executive in the chain. Fast food
at risk since the end of March, when ABC News announced for the first time that he had rented a condo at Capitol Hill last year for just $ 50 a night. She belonged to the wife of a veteran lobbyist specializing in fossil fuels, whose company had requested regulatory reductions from the EPA
. has triggered more than a dozen investigations into the conduct of Pruitt by the Office of the Inspector General of the EPA, the House Oversight Committee and other bodies federal supervision
. Pruitt can no longer be obliged to speak or cooperate with the investigation of the Inspector General. As a private citizen, he could still be summoned to appear before Congress, but the Republican-led committees have so far shown little interest in forcing him to do so.
Jennifer Kaplan, spokesperson for EPA's Inspector General Arthur Elkins that the office "was evaluating and evaluating" its ongoing audits and investigations following the departure of Pruitt.
People in Pruitt's original state were wondering if the ethical scandals in Washington left him with prospects for second-life politics in Oklahoma.
Ethical charges aside, many Republicans in Oklahoma-dependent oil and gas focus more on what they view as his regulatory achievements at the EPA, said Pam Pollard, president of the Republican Party of Oklahoma
. him for that, "said Pollard." I think the Oklahomans still love him, support him and trust him, we will give him the opportunity to tell his version of the story. "[19659002] Sen. John Barrasso, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works and until Thursday a staunch supporter of Pruitt, said that Trump has made the right decision to accept resignation.
"It has become increasingly difficult for the EPA to carry out its mission with the administrator under investigation," said Barrasso, who is from Wyoming.
Pruitt is the last Trump Cabinet official to lose his work on ethical issues.Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin was fired in March amidst questionable travel expenses and a growing rebellion. in his agency about the privatization of medical care. Health and Social Services, Tom Price, was fired last year after learning that he had been taking awful charter flights rather than commercial flights.
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Matthew Daly of Washington contributed to this report.
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Press reporters Ellen Knickmeyer at https://twitter.com/KnickmeyerEllen, Michael Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck and Zeke Miller https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller.
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