President Donald Trump elaborated at length on why EPA administrator Scott Pruitt will resign effective Friday, in a Thursday gaggle aboard Air Force One.
“Scott Pruitt did an outstanding job inside of the EPA. We’ve gotten rid of record breaking regulations and it’s been really,” Trump said, adding there was “no final straw. I think Scott saw that he was, he was, uh– look, Scott is a terrific guy. And he came ot me and he said I have such great confidence in the administration. I don’t want to be a distraction. And I think Scott felt that he was a distraction.”
Trump made it clear to reporters that “It was very much up to him,” and that “he’ll go on to great things and he’s going to have a wonderful life, I hope. But he felt that he did not want to be a distraction for an administration that he has a lot of faith in.”
Trump announced Pruitt’s resignation in a surprise series of Thursday tweets saying:
I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2018
…on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA. I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2018
Pruitt has been embroiled in a series of scandals regarding his tenure at the EPA including his alleged misuse of the office to benefit himself personally, mistreating staff, and a host of embarrassing stories about his personal conduct which have besieged the administration.