you have to be scott pruitt bad. >> you have to be scott pruitt bad and clearly the number is 13. we now know what the number is. >> we have a floor. >> we have a floor. thank god, we have a floor. >> we do. >> and so here's the thing that is so amusing and amazing about all of this, nicolle, is that scott pruitt didn't care and neither did donald trump to get to 13. let's not overlook that. thank you. >> he's not getting pushed out because he was corrupt. >> exactly. >> he's not getting pushed out because there were 13. he's not getting pushed out because he was weird enough to wear tactical pants in a phone booth. he's getting pushld out because he was getting bad pr for donald trump. >> as we were talking before, the president said you're getting way too much press now. >> above me. so here's the list. we put this up. so he ordered raises for two aides despite the white house rejecting the request. he spent $3 million of taxpayer funds on a security detail. biometric locks were installed in his office door. i don't know what that means. came under fire for renting the bedroom.

scott pruitt is not the only scott pruitt in town. we've talked about andrew wheeler who, you know, worked for robert murray and helped draft that 16-point plan of regulations he would like to see undone, all of which were then undone. there are other people with these ties and at this point, i think the folks in the fossil fuel industry, in the dark money groups, want to start thinking about scott pruitt as more of a liability than an asset. >> thanks to you guys both. eric lipton, investigative reporter for "the new york times" and jay michaelson, columnist at the daily beast for your reporting and analysis. with me now is democratic senator mazie hirono of hawaii. good to see you. tell me what your take is on this. every week we tend to be discussing some other senior administration official who's on the line for something. what's your take on scott pruitt? >> i don't think he's long for his job. however, he's just one in a long parade of administration appointees for whom the words "conflict of interest," "ethical violations," "br

scott pruitt is a crook. he's cost taxpayers millions and millions of dollars. >> what do you think the chances of that are? is this over? he resigns and it's over or do you think there's legal jeopardy for him? >> i think there's legal jeopardy. there's certainly legal jeopardy. does a politicized justice department follow up or will there be an independent investigation of some kind? there could have. he's damaged this country enormously. he's just been so blatant about his disregard for the law, as trump is as well. so i think trump -- i think what really happened is that he should have been fired in. in a normal administration he wouldn't have been appointed. but even in this administration he should have been fired months ago but he sees himself in pruitt. he likes the swash buckling, take what the hell you want and who gives a damn what the public says. they're both a great victims player. they cause themselves trouble and then blame somebody else. >> there was also the whole question raised by hans nic

pruitt. we got the news of these top staffers' resignations today, the day after news broke that scott pruitt had directed yet another senior epa staffer to ask the chik-fil-a corporation for help getting his wife a chik-fil-a franchise. by way of illustrating life at this government agency right now, i want to show you the response when reporters got news of the first top staffer quitting mr. pruitt's staff today. this is from the atlantic.com, quote, when reached by foam, johan wilcox, an epa spokesperson would not comment. he said, quote, you have a great day. you're a piece of trash. consider not just what the trump administration has done to the epa, consider what they've done to the job of covering the epa as a reporter, on the taxpayers' dime. you have a great day. you're a piece of trash. joining us now is lisa friedman. she's a climate reporter for "the new york times." ms. friedman, thank you very much for join us. i'm sorry that your job has become marginally more hostile than it h

pruitt under pressure. and left as the ethics scandals pile up against him. >>> storm watch. a major announcement coming from stormy daniels' lawyer about the man she claims threaten her to keep silent. >>> order to the border. national guard troops are deployed to the mexico border to help secure it until president trump gets his wall, but who's paying for? >>> also new developments from munster, germany, where a truck plowed into a crowd of people, killing two and injuring dozens more. >>> we'll start this hour with new reporting from axios this afternoon. jonathan swan reporting white house chief of staff john kelly threatened to quit acourting to sources familiar with the event. kelly reportedly blew up at the president at an oval office meeting the same day. a senior administration official tried to pour cold water on the report and said calling it a threat was "probably too strong. it was more venting frustration." this coming amid the president reshuffling his cabinet and escalating trade tensions wi

scott pruitt running this agency. we have since learned there was an effort to buy him a $100,000 a month private jet membership to have a private jet on standby at taxpayers' expense whenever he wanted to go anywhere and he used an emergency contingency provision in the safe drinking water act meant to hire scientists in the event of a drinking water emergency, he used it instead to hire lobbyists and spokespeople and to give big raises, 30, 40, $50,000 raises to young staff members he brought with him to -- from oklahoma. we then learned that one of those staffers who he gave a $30,000 raise to, she had among her taxpayer funded responsibilities, the job of shopping for potential apartments for scott pruit in washington d.c. and as you no doubt have come to know, that has since led to revelations that at least for the first year in office, where scott pruitt lived in d.c. was in a swanky capitol hill townhouse coowned by an energy lobbyist who charged scott pruitt a princely sum of $50 a night to stay there but he o

is this larger than pruitt? >> of course it's larger than pruitt. i think it's dawned on the white house that it is. that pruitt is the latest in a long line of pictures that you just put up on the screen. i just literally got off the phone with somebody who is close to the trump circle and should know, and i asked him -- i said, sarah huckabee sanders today at the press conference said in answer to a question about pruitt that the president believes that pruitt has done a good job. and i said, she didn't say he is doing a good job. well, it's a key distinction in trump world, in these end of days dramas that we've seen repeatedly. and he said, good catch. there's a difference. >> yeah, there is. >> and another person told me yesterday and i reported yesterday that inside the white house at the very top, they're saying it's not a question of whether with scott pruitt. it's a question of when. and i think that's partly not just because pruitt -- and i actually think the red flashing lights going through the city is every bit as much of a symbol in th

they love scott pruitt. they feel very strongly about scott pruitt. and they love scott pruitt. >> i bet they do. the president standing by his man tonight, publicly expressing confidence in the epa administrator, scott pruitt, now under fire amid mounting ethics scandals, including his $50-a-night condo rental arrangement, courtesy of a top energy lobbyist. that comes at the same time that "the new york times" reports certain epa officials were penalized for questioning pruitt's spending and management. according to that paper, some of those officials had very close ties to the trump white house and to republicans on the hill. also new, "the washington post" reporting tonight two epa officials confirmed that pruitt endorsed the idea last month of giving big pay raises to two close aides. nbc news has also learned that president trump as recently as last week had been considering replacing attorney general, jeff sessions, with scott pruitt. but administration officials tell us that's unlikely now, given recent reports about pruitt's conduct. and today

scott pruitt is drawing attention. he has enemies because he's deregulating the epa which a lot of american believe it protects americans from the corporate america. why make all this noise about it. donald trump can't afford to have another cabinet secretary undergoing a cabinet secretary hearing. he's had so many because he's had to fire so many of his people. for the man who will bring us the back, he hasn't. he's created deeper swamp than we ever had. we need to sweep it clean nap can be the only reason. you couldn't have said it better. the role model is at the top. that's what's happened. it's okay if they cheat the taxpayers and kill the environment and make it to the point that all of us will suffer. science has gone out the window at epa and animals are in danger. people are in danger. we need to stop this. >> the fake media is pushing hard i'm going to replace ag jeff sessions with epa chief scott pruitt. who is doing great job but is totally -- you can replace those words with anything including about the ru

pruitt is pushing back on that. scrambling for options, more than a thousand people are involved in the desperate rescue to get 12 boys and the soccer coach outside of the cave. the biggest question is now is how to get them out but when. we start this hour with a battle that's intensifying over america's highest court. president trump is at his golf club in sistterling, virginia. the escalating debate fuelling more divisions in an already fragile political environment. one of trump leastrump's leadinr is already joining the action. kelly o'donell, what do we know of the short list and who's facing criticism? >> reporter: good to be with you, craig, we know there are seven names on the active working short list. it includes some of the judges that's been interviewed by the president and also senator mike lee of utah who had a phone call with the president. there is a lot of speculation who may be the short list. among them is brett cavanaukava and amy coney. the two of them are perceive as front runners. the stakes

did not like the idea for pruitt here. do you see a continuation of these policies. >> of course. and that is why it is strange that pruitt was able to hang on as long as he could. look at this, this is our list of all the people in trump's orbit who have disappeared since he became president. long list compiled by our white house unit. >> departures from the administration. >> from the administration. cabinet officials to staff. this is an administration that bleeds people. they just go. remarkable that he hung on as long as he did. joins a long list of people who have joined in and since been departed. >> all right. thank you all for being with us. also coming un, set your dvrs because the president says he is planning to announce his supreme court pick on monday at 9:00 p.m. probably not coincidentlily there. sources say we should expect someone straight out of central casting. bob mueller faces a difficult addition. launches blistering attacks on everybody from german chancellor angela merkel to senator warren. this is

. >> tonight, scott pruitt is out. epa administrator resigning in disgrace among 15 ongoing investigations. >> i love. we love. >> what happens now and what tipped scott pruitt's exit. >> we put a bigger swamp creature in there. >> scotus decision winds down. >> the president's three alleged finalist for the supreme court vaktcy. >> he is one of the smartest people i've ever known and one of the nicest people i have ever known. >> i am chris hayes and the last time i was at this desk, i interviewed a die hard trump supporter. >> training the swamp and not only did we not drain the swamp, we put a bigger creature in there. >> 48 hours after that interview, after pruitt was spotted at the white house, the president accepted pruitt's resignation. exploiting his office for perks and personal gains. pruitt's extraordinary list prompted debates among historians. hard to think of any politician whose record is more extensive. trying to get his wife a franchise. the d.c. apartment he rented for $50 a knife with a wife of energ

it sounds like scott pruitt is serving scott pruitt. >> what's your reaction to that, clarence?s your assessment of what he's doing and when you're hearing conservative commentators like that and saying scott pruitt is not serving anybody but scott pruitt? >> it's a different experience hearing eric bolling criticizing a fellow conservative like that. i can't say it's not well deserved. everyone knows about scott pruitt's attitude. he's a former attorney general who has one head for the law and another for ethics. he seems to be entirely blind or tone deaf to ethics. we've seen it repeatedly. and we have a situation where he is being confronted by a citizen out there in the regular dining world. and i've editorialized against this sort of a demonstration in public, i can't say that it wasn't well deserved in pruitt's case. >> so to be clear what do you make of what chrkristin did and what others have done in this administration? >> i'm old enough to remember the original sit-ins down in north carolina that started the '60s phase of the civil rights movement. you protested by sit

scott pruitt, in the president's eyes, scott pruitt was successfully deregulating the epa by replacingople with political people, with a mission, you know, that just isn't in keeping with what the epa had in the past. but it is the president's new mission of reducing regulation. >> reporter: scott pruitt is gone from the epa but his legacy will long endure. what he did in terms of rolling back obama-era and even bush era and bush 41 era environmental protections, that was a core goal not just of this administration but a lot of congressmen. conservatives who have long thought the epa was overzealous, overregulatory. when you talk to conservatives on capitol hill, yes, they hold their nose on some of the things president trump has done, particularly with tariffs and going the other way on free trade. we've most recently seen that with the tiff and back and forth with the chamber of commerce, a core long-standing republican group. but conservatives always tend to praise trump on two things. number one, neil gorsuch, and now potentially a second supreme court nominee. two, the dismantling

president trump says pruitt chose to resign because he felt he was a distraction.lus, president trump holds a campaign-style rally in montana and unleashes on some of his favorite targets. new overnight, secretary of state mike pompeo has landed in north korea. he is hoping to fill in some of the details on the agreement between president trump and kim jong-un. ♪ >>> good morning, everyone. it is friday, july 6th. i'm ayman mohyeldin. we begin with new information about the ongoing rescue efforts to raise 12 boys and a soccer coach trapped in a flooded cave in thailand. we learned a tiefr who was once a member of thailand's elite navy seal unit has died during a rescue operation. rescue teams have been working around the clock for days trying to figure out how to get the group out of the cave, but clearly the conditions are too dangerous. joining us live from chiang rai, thailand, what can you tell us about the setback, janis mackey frayer? >> reporter: this is a reminder of the dangers that this operation involves in trying to take these 12 kids and their coach ou

scott pruitt is still in his job. she's gone. but we have new information with the senior counsel that may show this to be an even bigger problem than it's already understood to be. this information come from the committee where carper is the ranging democrat. a staffer on the committee tonight gave us some of the background of what led to this request from senator carper. just so you know, this is exactly how carper put it. "i write to request the inspector general conduct an immediate review of the epa efforts to prevent fraud related to employee -- i am additionally informed that ms. dravis was likely compensated as a full-time employee throughout that time. now we can report that what led to this sort of remarkable claim is that this committee, the environment committee in the senate, was contacted by multiple sources on this matter over a period of four to six weeks, multiple sources contacted the committee via calls, e-mails and in-person meetings, all raising the same issue about samantha drafis being the senior counsel at

good thing you rushed the vote on scott pruitt. pruitt does end up taking fall because of this growing scandal around him, he will be falling for a much greater height because of the way republicans rushed him into the cabinet. that does it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow. "first look" is up next. >>> shannon, shannon, shannon glenn, this is not a tv program. shannon, you don't just get to yell out. we are going to have you sit down like big boys and girls. >> glenn, glenn, who here hates glenn? that shows that everybody raised their hands because everybody hates glenn. >> it was a slow of unity at cpac. steve bannon and reince priebus denied reports of

. >>> then another day, another scott pruitt scandal. >> i think scott pruitt is doing a great job. >> new signs tonight that pruitt's job could actually be in jeopardy. >>> and after year of president trump, guess what republican candidates are campaigning on? >> we don't need to investigate our president. we need to arrest hillary. >> when "all in" starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. while the presidential families gathered over the weekend to mourn the death of former first lady barbara bush, the current occupant of the white house was golfing, rage tweeting, and attempting it appears to influence the testimony of a potential witness against him. first lady melania trump attended the funeral on saturday, posing for a photo with the obamas, the clintons and two generations of bushes. but her husband stayed behind at his estate in florida where he had plenty of time to catch up on twitter and cable news, two of his favorites, and where he somehow seems to have come across this story published friday on his allegedly abusive treatment of longtime aide mic

he ousted scott pruitt. this story matters for many reasons, but among them is the fact it shows reporting, pressure and accountability still can work in donald trump's washington. it may not be a coincidence that donald trump put this news out today, which is of course a traditionally sleepy period after july 4th. if donald trump has to cave, maybe he wants to do it during a holiday news week when he thinks fewer people may not notice. but that's just the optics part. the substance is far more important. and the substance tonight that i can report to you is scoot pruitt is out. donald trump tweeting it today. he told reporters while everyone knows the controversies with scott, within the agency, he said, we were extremely happy. that is largely false. he was under fire precisely because people within the epa blew the whistle on his contact from making an aid find a job for his wife to spending $40,000 on a soundproof phone booth to trying to get a discount on a used trump hotel mattress to the bizarre er ra

pruitt to tell him the time had come. the president also told reporters he's narrowed his supreme court picks to about five people. a source familiar with the selection process told nbc news it's down to three, these three. at tonight's rally in grape falls the president was teasing up his big reveal. >> as you know there's now a vacancy on the supreme court. and if you turn in monday at 9:00, i think you're going to be extremely happy. right? and they're all great. they're all great. >> now, from there you can say things went off the rails. among other things the president went after maxine waters, elizabeth warren and the nfl. >> we turn away thousands of people. they never say i'm a great speaker. i've broken more than john elten records. and by the way, i don't have a musical instrument. i don't have a guitar or organ. no organ. e el elton has an organ. yes, she's a low iq individual. pocahontas, they always want me to apologize for saying it and i here by -- oh, yeah, i want to apologize. pocahontas, i apologize to y

pretend you don't even really know scott pruitt's name. this is the first you have ever ard thermighbe any negati whatsoeve concerning scott pruitt and his time as a cabinet official. even if this was it, even if this was the only negative news story that had ever broken about him, ask yourself if you think it seems feasible that he still has this job tonight after this warertafternoo so it's a simple story. scott pruitt got sworn in to be head of the epa in february last year, february 2017. then march, april, may -- three monthster, may 17, ofngor stt uitt at e ep sent this e-mail. from sydney hupp to dan cafey at chick-fil-a. meeting with scott pruitt. good afternoon. hopefully this e-mail finds you well. administrator pruitt asked me to reach out to you and see if you might be willing to get a time set up for the two of to you have a meeting. if there is something i can work with to help get that -- if there's something i can work with to get thatitated i would greatly appreciate it. so this is an executive at an american fast food com

scott pruitt is standing strong in his job. defense of scott pruitt. jimmy (shouting): james! he's survived record rain and a supplier that went belly up. so while he's proud to have helped put a roof over the heads of hundreds of families, he's most proud of the one he's kept over his own. brand vo: get the most out of your money, whether you're using quickbooks smart invoicing to get paid twice as fast or automatically tracking your mileage. smarter business tools for the world's hardest workers. quickbooks. backing you. ithe race for governort. has turned into a scam. gavin newsom's trying to elect a republican who was endorsed by trump. and villaraigosa's being bankrolled by a handful of billionaires. it's everything that's wrong with politics. and none of it is helping struggling families. here's my pledge to you. i'll keep our budget balanced. invest in affordable housing. fight for universal healthcare. and stand up to donald trump. as governor, you can trust me to do what's right- because i always have. a crazy bit of breaking news. scott pru sit still employed. he rem

. >> scott pruitt, do you support pruitt? >> the tonight democrats and republicans calling for pruitt to be fired. >> there's a change coming. there's a change coming. > when "all in" starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. one of the most infamous members of donald trump's cabinet, the one living in a lobbyist's house in washington, d.c., epa head scott pruitt now appears to be hanging on to his job by his finger nails after a swirl of negative stories increasing the perception the trump administration as a whole is an ethical mess. according to politico, the white house has been actively considering firing pruitt behind the scenes possibly following the release of an inspector general's investigation noose pruitt's lavish travel which we've covered here but which for the record is not even the scandal of the moment. because this morning, the white house claimed that pruitt is still in the president's good graces. an administration official telling the news trump called pruitt to keep fighting and t

good thing you rushed the vote on scott pruitt.s end up taking fall because of this growing scandal around him, he will be falling for a much greater height because of the way republicans rushed him into the cabinet. that does it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow. now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >> rachel, i have worked on tv dramas where we have tried to write cliff hangers at the end of a particular season or episode, but the cliff hanger you just left us is better than anything we could come up with in tv drama. >> and when the republicans decided they were just going to put a brick on the gas pedal and jump out of the car, they could see the cliff and they did this an

pruitt, thank you, scott, very much. epa is doing really, really well. you know, somebody has to say that about you a little bit. people are really impressed with the job being done at the epa. thank you, scott. >> the president has let cabinet secretaries go before. why is scott pruitt surviving? >> we don't really know the answer. some of the other officials let go before who have come under fire for things usually had other issues as well. there wasn't a reservoir of good will. clearly scott pruitt has been keeping faith with president obama's agenda. he's been implementing the policies the president wants to have implemented. i think the president these days feeling the heat from the investigations that have surrounded him is feeling sort of, you know, projecting on other people the notion that they're somehow being persecuted unfairly. any day, one of these stories kind of like get his goat and he decides too much is too much and he could switch gears. >> charlie, republicans, at least some of them, they say they're

goodbye scott pruitt.e news of these top staffers' resignations today, the day after news broke that scott pruitt had directed yet another senior epa staffer to ask the chick-fil-a corporation for help getting his wife a chick-fil-a franchise. by w of illurating l this government agencyight now, i want to show you th sponse when reporters got news of the first top staffer quitting mr. pruitt's staff today. this is from theatlantic.com,

>> it's been a series of embarrassing slip-ups by scott pruitt. in the last five days, we've done five different stories. it turns out the lobbyist was lobbying that rented the condo to him even more than we thought. there's a coal executive who gave him seats that you had to make a million dollar donation to get access to. the bed, to get the used bed, and now the resignation of his people and the chick-fil-a. that's five days worth of stories. it's just no wonder the press office there feels under siege. but we aren't making these stories up. we're just reporting them. there has been a bit of tension between the reporters and the press shop. we're trying to do our jobs. i would rather be writing about environmental policy. but pruitt keeps his focused on his management. >> alain na, let me ask you this. there is a sense in we keep having more and more stories. i'm going to read a partial list. there's a sweetheart condo deal, $3 million spent on a massive security detail unprecedented, use of security detail for personal trips, first class trave

but that's what scott pruitt gets. we can't tell these days when the president starts to praise somebody more or less, whether that person is nearing the exits or not. what does it look like, what does a scott pruitt resignation look like? is it a resignation, a firing, a moving of scott pruitt somewhere else? >> i can tell you all of us are holding our phones close to see what's going to be tweeted. but, you know, the general thinking i think around this is -- and look, we've talked to people close to mr. pruitt who think he could be gone as early as tomorrow. we've talked to people who think he will stay until he wants to leave. however it happens, we're told pretty consistently that, you know, the president will let him leave with dignity, perhaps in a way that he wants to leave, perhaps after a regulatory victory. one thing to note is that the epa intends to submit a new version of the clean power plan. that was former president obama's signature climate plan, to the white house for review this week. that's a prett

where is pruitt in that list? >> well, you know, i think he is very high maybe tops the list of people who both have ethical challenges, have abused taxpayer dollars but also as i said, have taken and turned upside down the mission of their agency. and i think that really demonstrates the conflict he has that he's working for the polluters and lobbyists rather than for the american public and you know, particularly for the health of the american people and particularly children. so you know, it's some have had ethical challenges. some have done things that were really untoward not in the public interest. pruitt exemplifies the you know, place where the beams cross. >> so are you surprised, not surprised by his ability to endure? tom price you know, had a sort of down fall over the amount of travel he was doing. pruitt has done lots of travel, racked up real costs first class, $120,000 to italy, $40,000 flight to morocco. the condo deal. he's at war with his own administration he's running. how has he been able to

that's cabinet chaos with scott pruitt too. this is potentially a big moment for pruitt. that's his tie on the screen. walk us through what's happening on the hill and the president calling out john tester in a really explicit way for bringing up these accusations against ronnie jackson. here is the president talking about tester, listen. >> for john tester to start bringing up stuff like candy man and the kind of things he was saying and saying he has a beautiful record, for him to be doing this to this man and this family i think he has to have a big price to pay. >> he says he is not even 100% these allegations were true. >> he says these are allegations at this point. he has said there is enough of a pattern here they need to be investigated. the president's comments are disingenuous. it was at the direction, the commit who said they needed to put off the hearing in the first place. tester is off with a statement this morning. it is my constitutional responsibility to make sure vert rans get a strong thoroughly vetted leader. you heard them mention the price tester mi

the white house said no, pruitt did it anyway.kind of thing signals to trump not so much corruption as the threat of another ambitious person in the circle. >> unmatchable analysis, howard, thank you so much. i have nothing to add. great man, thank you so much for that great analysis. >>> up next, senator mitch mcconnell is sounding the alarm bell about a potential wipeout, you know, wipeout, like a tsunami coming at the republicans this november. but can democrats get enough momentum to actually do it for 2018? can they get to the 218 they need in the howwhite house to impeach this president? everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ i'm all about my bed. this mattress is dangerously comfortable. when i get in, i literally say, ahh. introducing

you don't need scott pruitt to do that. can find lots of republicans who would do exactly what he's doing right now. so i don't understand why the president still keeps him in. and it is baffling to me that he is still at the epa. >> we were checking your twitter feed, and just a few minutes ago you tweeted at the president saying, "democrat wave continues to get stronger so now i'm thinking please don't fire scott pruitt, he's such a great symbol of the corruption and fraud, waste and abuse in your administration." i tried to read that dripping with sarcasm which i'm sure was your intent. the president's base doesn't seem to care. why is this an issue that could help democrats? >> one reason i wrote that tweet is i realized the president tends to do the opposite of what rational people tell him to do. so i thought i would do some reverse psychology and see if that would work. keep in mind, his base will do what the president tells them. he could tell them, look, wednesday is not even a day of the week, and they would say o

does pruitt survive? >> is seems like -- first of all, nobody predicted anything and can which is why folks are not making a prediction because they don't know what their boss will do. but this reminds -- me of other incidences where the president has one position and the administration has another and he is comfortable with that. if you are just basing it off the great job that he's been doing for conservatives and in terms of the agenda and trump statements, i think scott pruitt should feel confident right now. but as confidence in a situation like this. >> alfonso, it is like the way evangelicals have turned their -- turn their head. no, no, we're happy with the policies he's implementing to we're going to -- no, we'll cover our ears and turn away. is there -- where does that line make it where conservatives are defending unethical behavior? >> it is difficult. because with pruitt, you have to understand he's a conservative hero. even before he became a administrator of the epa. so he's respected withi

who told pruitt and how that it was time to go? was it pruitt on his own volition? was it others? if someone actually dictated that he had to go, we need to know that story because we need to applaud and celebrate that rare occurrence that somebody said, enough, you need to go. >> jonathan, it's my understanding no one said enough. it was about bad p.r. >> it was death by a thousand cuts. it was no particular breaking point here. >> certainly not on the ethical front, on the p.r. front maybe. >> the president finally got tired of the headlines more than anything else. he just was -- he actually applauds the work he has done at the epa. >> he doesn't care about the ethical stuff. >> he thinks he's one of his most effective cabinet members. he was getting stuff done. he thought the charges were overblown, it was a media witch hunt much too much was being made of this. >> laura ingraham started attacking him. >> that did tip the scales. certainly his chief of staff had been advocating for pruitt to be out. staff was. that played a role. eventually trump was there is too much with thi

pruitt's job may become tenuous again. look, if another story drops, if another wave of headlines hits, the president a certain point may grow frustrated and say the distractions are not worth it. remember, he has a number of confirmation hearings that have to happen on capitol hill in the coming weeks. and adding pruitt to that list is already -- seems untenable for a lot of the republicans here. >> peter, let me bring you in here. chief of staff john kelly urged the president to fire pruitt, according to "the new york times," with that suggestion falling on deaf ears. what do the past few weeks tell you about kelly's status in the west wing? >> well, kelly's status is -- seems precarious to some degree. it doesn't seem like the president is listening to kelly. we also reported that -- at the "journal" that some saying pruitt should go, he's a liability. it's not clear the president is listening. what's also interesting about the pruitt situation is that the entire staff at the white house, from what we're told, is also o

on pruitt, he said i think he's done a fantastic job. he's a fantastic person i just left coal and energy area and they love scott pruitt. >> either he hasn't read "the new york times" or none of this matters. >> start the clock. >> what do you think it is? serious question. >> i'm sure pruitt is popular in coal country because the administration has pursued to the benefit of the coal and oil industry. it is a great friend to those industries so i'm sure they are happy and folks in that industry are very happy but the question is -- how long will the president's tolerance extend, if there are ig investigations at the epa and if perhaps there is an fib investigation into the spending. >> scott pruitt's capacity to find good real estate deals should earn him a place in the trump organization when he moves on from public service. >> he could be the head of hud. and a few more deitails with th press exchange with the president and he was informed of some is of the new accounts about pruitt and he said i've heard different versions of it. i'l

also, pruitt's problems. the epa chief with expensive travel and cheap rent is now the subject of a new review and there are new reports that the white house is not happy with how he is handling this controversy. and status update. things seem to keep getting worse for facebook. millions more user's data compromised. ceo zuckerberg set to answer questions on the hill. how much responsibility does the government even have to protect you from malicious actors? we'll get to those stories in just a minute. we start with new questions today about just how president trump plans to deploy those troops to our border with mexico. the president just left washington a few moments ago, bound for west virginia. he did not take questions from reporters there as he boarded air force one. at this point, it is unclear where those troops would be deployed a long the nearly 2,000-mile-long border with california, arizona, new mexico and texas. the troops would be national guard units and they would serve in mostly a support cap

pruitt must resign.'s bring in rick tyler and political analyst and jason johnson, politics editor at the root. also an msnbc contributor. rick, let us remind our viewers and our sirius satellite listeners of just a few of the issues plaguing scott pruitt. $50 a night condo lease. his use of taxpayer dollars for private travel. his use of a special hiring authority. spending on a soundproof phone booth. we just heard the president double down on his support for pruitt. but at this point, do we think that scott pruitt can actually stay on, even now especially considering john kelly seems to want him gone? >> i think john kelly's job is more in danger than scott pruitt. this is one of the cases where donald trump likes what pruitt is doing at the epa. i like a lot of the things that pruitt is doing at the epa, but the optics of these things really are inexcusable. but it looks like the president is going to weather this one out. >> 23 ethics issues, jason. huffington post reporting that scott pruitt right

scott pruitt, the attorney general of that state. his office and the top lawyer at the corrections department they decided with this execution date bearing down on them, they were going to figure it out. never mind the protocol, in every mind the rules. lawyers from scott pruitt's office and the corrections office got online and said they just started browsing around. they started basically randomly looking around online to see if they could figure out how long it takes for various drugs to kill people. these are not medical professionalings of any kind who have any expertise. i want to read you litally. wikileaks or whatever. i did my own research, i looked online, you know, what passed the key, wikileaks, wikileaks or whatever it is. that's where they say they found the information. they looked around online. the attorney general of the state is not supposed to be involved in a process like that. picking the actual drugs, that is not the attorney general's purview. nobody in the attorney general's office is expected to have any exp

epa pruitt under fire. after new revelations he paid deeply discounted rent for a pricey condo that's linked to a lobbyist whose project, guess what, got approved. >> a hotel room for $50 a night in washington, d.c. and tell me that's not a gift from a lobbyist. this is disgusting. no decent ethics lawyer would sign off on that. >> and the white house now looking into the deal. will pruitt be the next cabinet member to go? >>> and some trouble on wall street. markets plunge over fears of a trade war and the president's attacks on amazon. >>> sentencing day. a lawyer with very close ties to paul manafort and rick gates is set to be the first person sentenced in connection with the russia investigation. this, as newly revealed memo defends the special counsel's charges specifically against mr. manafort. >>> and growing protests. schools in oklahoma and kentucky remain closed as thousands of teachers fight for better pay, pensions and crucial funding. >> we need textbooks and chairs and software and special cl