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WASHINGTON – Scott Pruitt came to Washington and assembled an extraordinary team of like-minded conservatives – attorneys, energy lobbyists, free market Republicans and close allies in his days in Oklahoma. All were committed not only to Mr. Pruitt, but also to his stated mission of regulating the Environmental Protection Agency
. In just over a year, most of them had left, driven by scandal or disillusionment. on what they considered a loss of concentration of a leader distracted by the traps of power – the construction of an elaborate security team, traveling first class, seeking special benefits for his family – who then blamed his own staff for missteps
. The fall of Pruitt from E.P.A. is a story of his diminishing relationship with many of his closest loyalists. Instead of focusing on history by reshaping US environmental policy, they found themselves not only defending their actions in front of the investigators, but also calling Mr. Pruitt to expose him to the truth. 39; public review and finally to shoot it down
. is Samantha Dravis, former policy chief of Mr Pruitt, who resigned in April. During his tenure, Mr. Pruitt asked him to help him for personal matters, such as reviewing his apartment lease. Last week, she sat on Capitol Hill and was questioned by a congressional committee to find out if Mr. Pruitt had asked him to help his wife land a lucrative job. He was asked to blame his boss.
"The Pruitt administrator has explicitly asked" to help his wife find work, Dravis told investigators, according to a transcript of her interview published Thursday afternoon, shortly of time after. Pruitt has resigned. She added: "I have no reason to think about why I would like to introduce myself into such a situation."
Pruitt also remained isolated from several of his closest confidants, a said David Schnare, a 34-year veteran of the agency who served in President Trump's transition team and who left the EPA himself after an argument with Mr Pruitt on the rules governing the use of ethanol in gasoline.
"Who is he gone?" Said Mr. Schnare. "There was not much left for him."
Pruitt has proud supporters, among them Michael McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who describes him as the underdog that the E.P.A. necessary, someone who had built a career away from Washington and could therefore force the status quo. "Like all of us, he's his worst enemy," Mr. McKenna said, but he was changing the agency's culture and eliminating government regulations
"A big part of the reason Scott left, they disagreed with what he was doing at the agency, "McKenna added.
Senator James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma and a long-time supporter of Mr. Pruitt, praised his "excellent work in reducing the regulatory burdens of the country." In recent months, Inhofe had criticized some of Pruitt's actions, but on Thursday, shortly after the resignation , he said that Mr. Pruitt was essential to Trump's mission. "He was determined to restore the EPA "Mr. Inhofe said:
Nevertheless, even though Mr. Pruitt has proposed historic cuts in government rules, jokes about a worn mattress, a chick-wire-a franchise and a $ 50 condo per night became shortcuts in American culture for an EPA
Millan and Sydney Hupp, sisters and friends of the Pruitt family of Oklahoma, became Washington's caretakers of Mr. Pruitt, helping book trips to Nationwide to meet oil executives, coal miners, farmers and other groups. But Mr. Pruitt also asked Sydney Hupp to arrange a meeting with Chick-fil-A to request a grant for his wife. She resigned last summer.
Millan Hupp resigned in June after Mr. Pruitt blamed him for telling investigators that, among other things, she had helped him try to buy a worn Trump mattress International Hotel. On the same day, she resigned, as did Sarah Greenwalt, Pruitt's senior lawyer who oversaw water policy. Ms. Greenwalt and Ms. Hupp received substantial salary increases that Mr. Pruitt denied having approved and rescinded later.
And Mr. Pruitt's senior press officer, Liz Bowman, formerly of the American Chemistry Council, left in May after blaming her for being attentive to him the press for renting a condo at $ 50 a night to the wife of an energy lobbyist
has not responded to requests for comment on the relationship of the Mr. Pruitt with his senior assistants. Mr. Pruitt's spokesman, Jahan Wilcox, denied any wrongdoing by the administrator.
The most publicized departure may have been that of Kevin Chmielewski. He had arrived at E.P.A. In April 2017, he was soon appointed Deputy Chief of Operations.
He obtained irreproachable republican credentials, having served as assistant to several Republican presidential candidates over the last two decades, including Mitt Romney and John McCain. He had worked on the Trump campaign since its inception
. But in his first few months at the agency, Mr. Chmielewski said Friday that he was beginning to wonder if some of Mr. Pruitt's actions were harming the deregulatory mission he had signed. for. He cited Mr. Pruitt's expenses for first-class security and theft, as well as his requests for help with personal tasks such as picking up dry cleaning while preventing some of his meetings from going out. . You can not do that, "said Mr. Chmielewski, who left in February after his own argument with Mr. Pruitt." I was still waiting for the office of the vice president or someone to White House intervenes and says, "Wait a minute, guys, it must stop." But that never happened. "
Chmielewski took a temporary job as a waiter in West Ocean City, Md., At Sunset Grille and Teasers Wharf Next week, he said, he'll be back in Washington to testify to congressional investigators.
Ryan Jackson, the EPA chief of state- Major, challenged Mr. Chmielewski's descriptions of the agency and Mr. Pruitt, characterizing him in an interview this week as a former dissatisfied employee.
During his 16 months as EPA Administrator, Mr. Pruitt has unveiled many major political initiatives, such as the overthrow of the rules of the O era bama on vehicle exhaust emissions and the reduction of a regulation on water pollution. However, some of these policies were criticized because had been hastily assembled in a manner that made them vulnerable to challenge.
This is partly because he resisted E.P.A.'s career advices. staff and its senior political aides, Schnare said. For example, Mr. Pruitt preferred that Kevin Minoli, Deputy Senior Legal Counsel and Senior Ethics Officer of the agency, not attend staff meetings, said Mr. Schnare, because that the expertise of Mr. Minoli allowed him to counter the policies.
Mr. Minoli declined to comment
and as Mr. Pruitt's senior executives began to question some of his actions, he retaliated. Instead of aiming at "the deep state" – the idea, advocated by some conservatives, that government bureaucracy and liberal interests combine to block their goals – Mr. Pruitt blamed his own staff.
In three cases, Mr. Pruitt's team tried to dissuade staff members who had questioned his actions or opposed his management by telling them to resign but by offering them two to three months of additional salary, according to three former EPA officials, including Mr Chmielewski, who said that he had been offered this arrangement and that he had refused.
Federal rules prohibit paying an employee for unfulfilled work.
Chmielewski, in an interview, acknowledged that the arrangement was done. Mr. Jackson declined to comment on Thursday
. Several former staff members of Mr. Pruitt said in interviews that the water drop came on April 26 when their boss testified before two congressional committees. Asked by lawmakers about allegations of improprieties against him, Mr. Pruitt blamed his staff, particularly his chief of staff, Mr. Jackson, whom he blamed for making decisions such as the The illegal purchase of a $ 43,000 secure phone booth. Many senior assistants had been personally recruited by Mr. Jackson.
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