UPDATE: Trump told Pruitt he's "got your back." With Trump, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
NEW: Trump called EPA chief Scott Pruitt last night and said keep your head up, keep fighting, we’ve got your back.
He reassured him, I’m told.
Chief Kelly called this morning to reinforce the president’s message.— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 3, 2018
Multiple sources confirm Trump called the embattled Scott Pruitt.
Trump has NO PLANS to fire him, I’m told, despite some White House frustrations with the EPA chief, who’s under scrutiny for his travel, hiring practices and an unorthodox condo rental arrangement last year. https://t.co/SNGxYgEWmD— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 3, 2018
LIVE: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announces rollback of Obama-era fuel efficiency standards. https://t.co/FTf6m8qZuu
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 3, 2018
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You have to hand it to EPA chief: He really know how to use Other People's Money.
Word is, he's likely to get the boot any minute. Will he? Trump really likes him, but that may not be enough.
Here are the stories just from the last 24 hours:
Scott Pruitt approached the White House last month requesting substantial pay raises for two close aides.
The W.H. said no, so Pruitt used an obscure provision in the Safe Drinking Water Act to go around the W.H. and give the aides raises anyway. https://t.co/qDWZjd2WxI— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 3, 2018
In 2017, the EPA cleared a pipeline expansion while Scott Pruitt was renting a condo under market value from the wife of the head of the lobbying firm representing the pipeline company in “issues affecting pipelines and construction of new pipelines” https://t.co/G2Uhh8kYok
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) April 3, 2018
We hear Chevy dealers were livid that EPA’s Scott Pruitt planned to announce plans to roll back auto emissions standards tomorrow at a Chevy dealership in VA. They just don’t want to be associated with that decision. Now the VA dealer tells us the event is cancelled.
— Hiroko Tabuchi (@HirokoTabuchi) April 3, 2018
John Kelly has weighed firing Scott Pruitt, a senior admin official told Politico. https://t.co/Mpzoll1v9P
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 3, 2018
NEW — The lobbyist-run townhouse where Pruitt stayed also hosted fundraisers for GOP lawmakers while he was living there. https://t.co/JispSu1emV
w/ @lachlan— Sam Stein (@samstein) April 3, 2018
Aides to Scott Pruitt explored a roughly $100,000 a month private jet lease last year, WaPo reports.https://t.co/9roxrgIjUn
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 3, 2018
A key point in this story on Pruitt using the Safe Drinking Water Act to boost aides' salary: using it to hire people could also offer a loophole to get out of signing an ethics pledge. https://t.co/fveV8R5Jam pic.twitter.com/44iPAV1uzx
— Adam Smith (@asmith83) April 3, 2018
