John Kelly to Scott Pruitt: The Scandals Need to Stop

[DonViejo]

Source: The Daily Beast



A less-than-cordial phone call between the two underscores the rising tension within Trumpland over the EPA chief’s stumbles.

ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
LACHLAN MARKAY

04.04.18 8:59 PM ET

The day after Scott Pruitt was called by President Donald Trump, who reportedly told him to “keep your chin up” amid a torrent of controversy, the EPA chief got another phone call from a top White House official that was noticeably less encouraging.

Chief of Staff John Kelly wanted to know, after revelations had surfaced that Pruitt had been renting living space in Washington, D.C., from a pair of high-powered lobbyists—one of whom was lobbying his agency at the time—what other shoes, if any, were going to drop. Is there anything else that “hasn’t come out” yet, Kelly asked, according to three Trump administration sources. The chief of staff then impressed upon Pruitt that, though he has the full public confidence of President Trump for now, the flow of negative and damning stories needed to stop soon, as one source briefed on the contents of the call described. “[It] was not a friendly buck-up call at all,” is how another Trump administration official described the conversation to The Daily Beast.

Shortly thereafter, The Atlantic reported that Pruitt had defied the White House and directed his staff to give raises to a pair of employees under an obscure provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which gives the administrator wide latitude over short-term staffing decisions prompted by an emergency or other unexpected development. (Pruitt denied any knowledge of the raises in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday afternoon.)

According to two sources with knowledge of the situation, Kelly and other senior White House officials were blindsided by major details in The Atlantic’s article, left frustrated and wondering if Pruitt and the EPA still weren’t conveying damaging news to the West Wing.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-kelly-to-scott-pruitt-the-scandals-need-to-stop?ref=home

[Maxheader]

1. Dementia boy...

thrives on all the attention...no matter the controversy...

[hatrack]

2. 'Cuz we want a calm, orderly, civilized demolition of environmental law!

[Afromania]

3. This administration is laughably corrupt. Kelly should have told him his employment with the EPA

needs to stop, effective immediately. What is Pruitt on now, something around strike 9 or 10?

[DeminPennswoods]

4. What Kelly really meant was

"stop taking the media focus off Trump with all your scandals".

[bronxiteforever]

5. Pruitt should be in jail. Corruption used to be a crime

but no longer. Corruption is now the daily business of the federal government.

[Zorro]

6. This is the Republican master plan

Make the government so untrustworthy that no one will believe future policies are for the benefit of the people.

[LiberalLovinLug]

11. That's where the MSM news helps them out immensely

At least it has in the past and probably will again. I'm talking about the false equivalency edict they all are ruled by. Partly just to retain access to Republican guests. That if one side is guilty of something, we can scrape up some other thing the other side did that kinda sorta almost is the same thing, in a much more minor way, and even if it was years ago. Either they do it or they have on a lying 'guest' that spews this nonsense. All the while taking the story away from the actual dirty deed in order to spend the whole segment discussing which party is more innocent than the other.

It helps cement the 'both parties are the same' at least as far as corruption. They are only leaning off Democrats right now because of the position they are in in Washington now plus there is a tiny bit of regret for their own complicity in Trump getting elected. But I predict it all coming back once (hopefully) Democrats start rebounding and gain a majority again.

And so it works double great for Republicans. Because they can have the most corrupted treasonous idiot in the WH, and themselves be madly passing all kinds of bills that strip money from those that need it to themselves and their wealthy friends, and doing so be caught in all kinds of corruption and scandal, and STILL be just one side of the same coin. Their base is fully conditioned now. If there is news that Trump cheats on his wife with a porn star, they double down and shout that Bill was a rapist!!! If there are charges of corruption or money laundering etc.. they scream how the Clintons got away with MURDER!!!

[riversedge]

7. wonder if Dems can even make Corruption a campaign issue-it is so normal

[Maeve]

8. C'mon, Scott! One more, you can do it! eom

[lindysalsagal]

9. Earth to Kelly: You work for a scandal. N/t.

[JohnnyRingo]

10. I don't think I've ever seen anything like Pruitt, and I'm old.

He appears to think he was appointed as an American prince. Somehow, I doubt he milked the people of Oklahoma like this.

[riversedge]

12. Top Pruitt aide resigns from EPA amid controversies

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/381773-top-pruitt-aide-resigns-from-epa-amid-controversies



Top Pruitt aide resigns from EPA amid controversies
By Miranda Green - 04/05/18 10:30 AM EDT


A top aide and close friend of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has issued her resignation in the midst of various scandals plaguing the agency chief.

Samantha Dravis, the senior counsel and associate administrator in EPA's Office of Policy, tendered her resignation last week, the agency confirmed to The Hill on Thursday.

The sudden departure is described by one source familiar with the EPA as a “five-alarm story.”

A friend close to Dravis suggested her decision to leave had been building.

"She has been looking to leave for a while. A lot of people in the administration wanted her to stay for the year to put her time in but it’s one drama after another. It’s a shit show," the source said.

Dravis has a long history with Pruitt, the former attorney general of Oklahoma.

...........................

[CreekDog]

13. HOLD MY BEER

[FSogol]

14. Translation: Trumpy wants his cut!

Grifters gotta grift.