On Thursday afternoon, a story broke that Scott Pruitt once told the agent in charge of his security to use sirens and flashing lights to get him through DC traffic more quickly. When the agent reminded Pruitt that such use in a non-emergency was illegal, Pruitt took revenge, and replaced the agent with someone who would do as he was told, law or no law.
Special Agent Eric Weese, a 16-year veteran of the EPA, was replaced by Pasquale "Nino" Perotta. Perrotta now leads Pruitt's unprecedented 24-hour Protective Service Detail, which determined that Pruitt needed to fly in first class because of "specific, ongoing threats associated with the Administrator's air travel."
That single incident … was not a single incident. Because other EPA staff are now coming forward to say that pointing out the rules to Pruitt was a ticket to being moved or demoted.
At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management of the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.
The concerns included unusually large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, as well as certain demands by Mr. Pruitt for security coverage, such as requests for a bulletproof vehicle and an expanded 20-person protective detail, according to people who worked for or with the E.P.A. and have direct knowledge of the situation.
Pruitt didn’t just abuse the rules. He took revenge on those who would not go along with his demands. While his cronies from Oklahoma were rewarded with massive raises for spending their office time running errands for Pruitt and helping him find cheap housing, those who tried to follow federal guidelines were punished.
Pruitt has run his agency like a tinhorn dictator. Spending lavishly, ignoring regulations, and striking down anyone who got in his way. And because of this … Trump wants to promote him.
Trump apparently realizes that Pruitt is getting a bit of unfavorable attention — even on Fox News. But he doesn’t want to let go of his favorite rule-breaker, because he has another job in mind for him.
President Donald Trump floated replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt as recently as this week, even as the scandal-ridden head of the Environmental Protection Agency has faced a growing list of negative headlines, according to people close to the President.
The reason? Robert Mueller. The Special Counsel will deliver his final report to the Attorney General, and if the AG simply buries that report, there’s little anyone can do but complain. Trump wants to keep Pruitt handy in case it begins to look like the shifty grin Jefferson Sessions has sometimes adopted when talking about the Russia investigation means that Sessions has cut himself some sort of deal.
The suggestion of replacing Sessions with a scandal-ridden Pruitt comes as Trump continues to rage against both the attorney general and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein.
Trump chatters often about ousting both, multiple sources familiar with his thinking told CNN. But his advisers have repeatedly tried to thwart this by convincing him that doing so would be damaging in the midterms, given how popular Sessions is with conservatives.
It is a tough decision. Sessions is very popular with the racist wing of the party. Pruitt is beloved of the fossil fuel industry. But Trump is probably convinced that, if he gives him the role in time, Pruitt can be sufficiently racist to win over the base. And in any case, Trump’s concern about how Republicans do in the Midterms is limited to whether there are enough Republicans still on hand to stop him from being impeached.
But the latest round of information on Pruitt will certainly not just bring headlines, but bring additional charges that require investigation by the EPA’s own Inspector General. Pruitt may find he can’t hang on against his own investigation, long enough to help Trump with his.