Scott Pruitt directly asked Donald Trump to replace Jeff Sessions with him



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The direct appeal of Pruitt to the President has not been reported before.

The councilors quickly defeated the proposal, but this came at a time when Trump's frustration with Sessions over his decision not to oversee the investigation of Russia had resurfaced. . Trump has complained publicly and loudly of the challenge of the past 14 months, and has proposed to replace Sessions by Pruitt as recently as in April.

The Vacancy Reform Act, 1998 gives the President the power to temporarily fill a vacancy in a federal agency if the employee "dies, resigns or is unable to perform the duties and functions of the office".

The White House did not respond to requests for comment

In a statement sent after the initial publication of this story, Pruitt said, "This report is simply false. General Sessions and I are Friends and I've always said that I want nothing more than to see him succeed in his role. "

A spokesman for the EPA had initially stated that the agency" would not comment the anonymous sources that work to distract Americans from the Trump administration's achievements on regulatory safety and environmental management.

Pruitt's offer – and the President's consideration – further demonstrates how confident he has been at Pruitt despite a staggering number of ethical issues. Asked in June when he was planning to fire Pruitt, Trump declined to answer, noting the "fantastic job" that he did at EPA.

"I'm not happy with some things, I'm going to be honest," Trump told reporters on the North Lawn of the White House. "I'm not happy with some things, but he did a fantastic job at the EPA lead, which is very important, but I'm not happy about that."

  Launcher: EPA Pruitt holds a secret calendar to hide meetings
Pruitt, which makes faced with at least 14 federal polls, and his scandals tormented the administration for months. On Monday, it was revealed that he and his associates were holding "secret" schedules and schedules and discussing meetings and calls with industry and other representatives to include or omit their published calendars, according to a former EPA official. soon to testify before the Congress. A review of CNA's EPA documents revealed discrepancies between the official Pruitt calendar and other documents. If the allegations are true, the practice of keeping secret calendars and modifying or deleting recordings of meetings could violate federal law by "falsifying records" or hiding public records, according to legal experts interviewed by CNN [19659012]. Air Force One Tuesday, deputy press secretary of the White House Hogan Gidley called the numerous reports on Pruitt "troublesome" and said the president was concerned about them.

White House officials continue to be puzzled over Pruitt's good reputation with the president. While Trump privately acknowledged that the EPA chief has created a host of bad headlines, there is no plan to reject Pruitt right now, according to several sources at the White House.

Before taking control of the EPA, Pruitt was the Attorney General of Oklahoma. He served two terms as president of RAGA, the Republican network for state attorneys general.

Solution: This story has been updated to correct the title of Pruitt.

Update: This story has been updated with the commentary of the EPA.

Scott Bronstein, CNN's Curt Devine and Drew Griffin contributed to this report.

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