robert: business likes pruitt. when you talko people on wall street, because of all the regulations he's cut ay, there's not only support among the movement conservatives but the business communities. susan: and the president is in touch with executives from the oil and gas industries, the mining industry, theni com feeling the benefits from the de legg regulatory agenda. he hears that the president likes what pruitt isoing and that's what nfls his view of ruitt. if you look at the white house's own dashboard, the.p.a. is right up there with some of the highest volume rollbacks of nip agencies in the governor and that's something that you hear the administration talking about quite often. but the white house said they're investigating this and whatever they find could be impermissi:e. robeeoff, you were at the white house all day. meeting ou make of the with the president and the advice from general kelly last week to get rid of pruitt? geoff: that's right. general kelly and other top white house aides have told th

screw it was pretty deep -- scott pruitt was pretty deep in the special interest. it feels super strange. i feel like i am on a bad trip honestly. host: you think scott pruitt was a major influence on the president's decision? caller: who knows. the dude seems to kind of listen to himself in respects to donald. host: theodore in newport beach, california. the u.s. with withdrawing from the limit accord, announced by president trump. -- climate accord announced by president trump. the phone numbers are on the screen. on twitter, looking for your teeth -- tweets @cspan. -- notely no-trump evidence donald trump can negotiate a better deal. saturday for america and science. nice to have a candidates science -- promises. how can we save jobs if there is no clean air to breathe by 2040? and we don't need to support the test thatcredence want us to fund junk science. the independent line, jack. caller: i wanted to comment as an independent who voted for hillary. it is interesting withdrawing from this agreement hearing from trump's speech saying if the democrats wanted to

chief scott pruitt.is scandals haven't come from him working to destroy the environment. they've come from his side husband also. normally when you find out about corruption in d.c. it makes you mad, millions in bribes! but with every pruitt revelation you go, what? >> this morning the controversies keep coming for e.p.a. chief scott pruitt. e-mails show pruitt had one of his people reach out to chick-fil-a. >> he used his position to get his wife a franchise with chick-fil-a. even more astonishing, it's all in writing in government e-mails. >> trevor: you know, i will be honest, this is not the fast fort hood scandal i saw coming out of the white house. if anything, i thought it would be trump getting in trouble for pardoning the hamburglar. in case you didn't know, the hamburglar is in prison. he was trafficking fentanyl. horrible story. ( laughter ) think about this for a second -- you're the head of a major government agency with influence over some of the biggest corporations in the world, and you d

. >> 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

he hears that the president likes what pruitt is doing and that's what nfls his view of pruitt. if you look at the white house's own dashboard, the e.p.a. is right up there with some of the highest volume rollbacks of nip agenn the governor and that's something tt you hear the administration talking about quite often. t the white house said they're investigating this and whatever they find could be impermissible. robert: geoff, you were at the white house all day. what do you make of the meeting with the president and the advice falm gen kelly last week to get rid of pruitt? geoff: that's right. general kelly and other top white house aides have told the president it's time for pruitt to go.g as l a cabinet member stays in the president's personal good graces a lot seems to be overlooked. robert: we've seen ben carson have trouble.se thetary of housing and urban development. a lot of these outsider come to washington, join the cab net and they don't realize reporters realize it -- everything that's public information gets coverage. a lot of officials come in and don't realize ev

pruitt. you might say he's a carbon copy of mr. pruitt. and if you look at his history, the history of mr. wheeler, you find a very cozy relationship. between the nominee, mr. wheeler, between mr. pruitt, the current administrator, and an army of lobbyists for the coal industry. in fact, mr. wheeler, as we've noted, has been a lobbyist for that industry, and if you look at his relationships, you find that, as he was advising murray energy, murray energy was at that time a top donor to scott pruitt's super pac. this is before mr. pruitt became the administrator of the e.p.a. he had a super pac. and murray energy, for whom mr. wheeler lobbied, was one of the top donors to that pruitt super pac. and the relationship between pruitt and wheeler and bob murray gets even cozier when we see that bob murray was a co-plaintiff in eight of the 14 lawsuits that pruitt brought against the e.p.a. before pruitt became the administrator. so i want to get this right. you have mr. wheeler, who was the lobbyist for mr. murray, and mr. murray joined with prui

when the president announced scott pruitt?total delight. >> and did you have a hand in recommending scott pruitt to the president to be epa administrator? >> no comment. >> no comment. >> oklahoma's attorney general scott pruitt named the nominee of president-elect donald trump to lead the environmental protection agency. >> a leading critic of the epa now in line to take its helm. >> narrator: a dozen of bob murray's coal miners showed up at the u.s. senate in january for scott pruitt's confirmation hearing. >> how are you all doing? >> narrator: for pruitt, it was a chance to explain why a critic of the epa should run it. >> i believe there is a very important role for the environmental protection agency. in fact, its involvement in protecting our air quality and improving our nation's waters is extremely important, and the epa has served a very valuable role historically. we must reject as a nation the false paradigm that if you're pro-energy, you're anti-environment; and if you're pro-environment, you're anti-energy. >> na

environmental protection agency administrator scott pruitt is still on the job. critics call it one more chink in the pledge by president trump to drain the washington swamp. after all, isn't this the president who's seen a record number of officials exit already. perhaps pruitt's survival is down to his record where he's rolling back one regulation after another that was designed to protect america's air, water and land and doing it all under a pro business banner. now betsy sutherland wrote some of that regulation over more than three decades at the epa. in her fiery resignation letter last year she condemned, quote, the trials of misovertruths and became one of hundreds to exit the epa. the agency has predictably hit back at her. betsy sutherland joins me now from washington. first, welcome to the program. >> thank you so much for inviting me. i'm really looking forward to this conversation. >> well, it is, we like to call it, an exclusive. we know you have written and you've done a few things in the interim since last year. why do you think first and foremost

with scott pruitt a lot more than that. the defense the white house could provide for him in the wake of these scandals he was facing 14 federal probes was that he was doing what the president wanted over at the epa. he was rolling back those environmental regulation rs. he was doing those obamaeral guidelines. really doing what the president wanted. but that raised a question of if a staffer is doing something like that, something that administration finds useful, are they willing to overlook the scandals against him. and the blatant misuse of taxpayer money. you also can't ignore that the president has been attending fund raisers in recent weeks, one of them is the bill air harold ham, key figure in oil and gas, that is someone that the president was having fundraising dinners with. private residences here in washington. that is certainly someone who liked the work that scott pruitt was doing over at the epa. so it's a little bit more than just their personal relationship. it goes into the politics of what exactly he was

throughout it all pruitt held on. but trump canceled by republican officials that pruitt was making gains rolling back regulations stopped short of letting him go. >> i'm not happy about certain things, but he's done a fantastic job running the epa. >> reporter: just yesterday pruitt appeared to be in good standing with the president. attending the white house's july 4th picnic on the south lawn and receiving a shout out from trump. >> administrator scott pruitt. >> reporter: but flt frantic world. trump administration, 24 hours could mean the difference between a job and a farewell. at the same time, another department secretary facing a huge challenge. racing to meet a deadline as the crisis on the border gets worse. health and human services secretarial e secretarial f alex a sar saying 3,000 kids have been separated but saying it's closer to 2,000. >> multiple data sets has identified under 3,000 children in total, including approximately 100 children under the age of five. >> the white house facing a deadline fro

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

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.

pruitt, 14 republicans for, 45 democrats against. puzder, no republicans for, only three democrats got a chance, fortunately, to show who mr. puzder is. tillerson, six republicans for. democrats, 27 against. they don't want sunlight on this cabinet. they want to rush it. we have gone america, senator mcconnell, we have done america a service by showing who these people are and now every time betsy devos tries to hurt public education, the american eople will have their eye on her. when senator price decides to gut health care -- secretary price now decides to gut health care, the american people will have their eyes on him. on issue after issue, the american people are learning not only who this cabinet is but who donald trump really is norkts the donald trump who campaign -- really is, not the donald trump who campaigned for people, campaigned for people and said he was for the working people in the campaign. his broken promises just in this cabinet alone are legion. >> so we're open to some questions. reporter: what do you think yo

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

pruitt? >> i do. you. >> up next, drew griffin has a look at the controversy surrounding this cabinet member, pruitt under fire, the battle at the epa, starts now. >>> the following is a cnn special report. >> we are going to end the epa intrusion. new energy revolution. epa is a disaster. it's killing us. our plan will end the epa. >> a campaign promise being carried out about this man. >> i think that scott has done a fantastic job. i think he is a fantastic person. i just left coal and energy country. they love scott pruitt. >> let me be very clear, i have nothing to hide. >> you are unfit to hold public office. >> some call scott pruitt the biggest threat to the environment. >> doing great damage to the agency and to human health. >> scott pruitt is completely accomplishing longtime decades long conservative agenda items. >> now one of the president's top cabinet members surrounded by scandal. >> pruitt is now facing 10 investigations. >> pruitt had a $50 a day condo. >> phone booth that resembles

whose shied is scott pruitt -- whose side is scott pruitt on? the children in his state, one out of ten who has asthma, or devon energy? and we want to put him in charge of the e.p.a., without even having a thorough understanding of what his relationship was with these companies. well, my colleague doing his own ex-us a stiff research about -- ex-oughtive research about the campaign funding he had received and more support from companies like this, it creates an implication. well, let's get to the bottom of what's happening. let's see the e-mails before we vote. what do these say to these corporations? i asked him. he allowed polluting companies to write e-mails to the e.p.a. on his letterhead. did he let any of the children with asthma or their parents write letters that he then just put on his letterhead? people who were suffering from the poor air quality. later the director of government relations at devon energy e-mailed mr. pruitt's office. this we do know, to sproas gratitude -- to express gratitude to the attorney general forge for sendi

i too support scott pruitt. let me say, i think objective observers who watched his testimony would have to agree that it was an impressive display of knowledge and patience. attorney general pruitt demonstrated that he is intelligent, articulate, thoughtful, patient, and knowledgeable. and i think, because of that, he will eventually be confirmed. we are going to get through this. the people on the other side of the dais are friends of mine. i'm disappointed in them today. frankly, i was disappointed in their conduct during the hearing. taking a complicated issue and asking the witness to answer yes or no, yes or no, when we all know that those issues didn't call for a yes or no answer. putting up a poster of campaign contributors to the republican attorney general's association to somehow suggest that that in -- impeached the ability of attorney general pruitt to be administrator of the environmental protection agency. it was silly. it was beneath them. again, we will get past this. but it was a disappointment

he said republicans should want pruitt out. his basic argument here, susan, is other people can handle what should be done there without this as a distraction. >> this is something that there is part of the republican party that has always looked at the epa as a place overregulated and that has been pruitt's agenda is to deregulate and take rules off the books. this is not someone who cannot be replaced. he is very -- he didn't necessarily have the qualifications before. the problem that i think has taken so long because let's not forget the first story on the $50 a night condo deal that he had was six, seven weeks ago. the story isn't resonating on fox news which is the only thing that donald trump watches. until it starts a critical mess in front of donald trump's face it won't matter. >> the "washington post" cites reporting from the "new york times" on the relationship between scott pruitt and the president. mr. trump has dismissed the advice of several aides who have tried to persuade him. the two sfeek frequepeak freque t

he was the deputy to scott pruitt.ruitt, injure wheeler is a former coal lobbyist. >> someone representing the coal industry. is it possible that prewitt found out about his recognition -- resignation via tweet? >> it is very possible. was never an inner circle guy. you didn't see him conversing with the president very often. i don't know the donald trump will continue a relationship but given scott pruitt's relationship -- interest in random rating himself i wouldn't be surprised if he figures out a way to do pretty well in private industry. >> what is the unfinished business for the administration at the epa? >> there is so much that they have only started doing in terms of the deregulatory initiatives. .hey have to finish they are working on the rollback on methane regulations and water pollution rule. there are still frankly some conservatives who are pushing the epa to take on the endangerment ending to redo the epa's landmark conclusion that carbon dioxide emissions were a danger to public health and welfare. wha

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

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 out. president trump telling reporters he has accepted the resignation of his embattled epa chief, saying it was very much up to him, pruitt. and that pruitt didn't want to be a distraction. it's a surprising resignation, given that just 24 hours ago, pruitt was with the president at the white house fourth of july picnic. the president even giving him a shout-out. >> we're also honored to be joined by members of my cabinet. administrator scott pruitt. >> but today, pruitt writing to the president this in part. "it is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role, first because i count it a blessing to be serving you in any capacity, but also because of the transformative work that is occurring. however, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us." the unrelenting attacks pruitt speaks of are actually a stream of scandals which he created. a stream of scandals being investigated by his own agency. the list

about sessions to pruitt. have had some kind of bizarre comradery over this other person even while pruitt is under fire and tells me that pruitt feels very confident in his standing with the president. you talked to conservatives on the outside a lot of them, i would venture to say, most of them still support scott pruitt and they want him in the job talking to the president, they urge him to keep him there and pruitt is confident. asking the president for favors. and the president is listening. he's not gone yet which goes to show that he's more angry with jeff sessions over one mistake in his mind that he believes triggered other things than the litany of other issues that pruitt brought on to his white house. >> never forget the president likes jeff sessions at doj because of immigration. president likes pruitt at epa because of the environment and the issues aside, rebecca, i mean, apparently pruitt only serve in the position for i think 210 days due to the vacancies reform act. what do you make of the fa

decision was up to pruitt. is that what your sources are telling you in the white house? >> the decision was not up to pruitt. there was no specific final straw per se. what tipped the balance, two things, the embarrassment surrounding kaitlyn collins story about how it was many months ago this had happened, pruitt had pitched himself as jeff sessions replacement again, appealing to trump's vanity and basically in a mold of sicnk cofancy you could see in that resignation letter. and scrubbing up from the meetings. that tipped the balance. a source from the administration officials said that focused people's minds because that brought it to a different level. this all did begin according to two of my sources, that report about him attempting to buy a mattress from the trump hotel. that brought it into a different area. >> it was a mattress. >> the best part of that is you will never say that to me on set again. it was the mattress that was the first one. i think it was a snowball effect. trump is willing to put

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

they love scott pruitt. they feel strongly about scott pruitt. they love scott pruitt. >> the president's backing is so strong sources tell cnn he floated replacing attorney general jeff sessions with scott pruitt as recently as this week. sessions is a target of the president ever since he recused himself from the russia investigation. the president endorsed pruitt despite the headlines and allegations he sidelined top aides who pushed back on spending. more from cnn's sarah ganim in washington. >> reporter: good morning, rene and dave. reports that scott pruitt sidelined officials after they pushed back or raised concerns of the pricey travel and overall management of the agency. two sources with the knowledge of the matter told cnn that career and political appointees who disagreed with pruitt were iced out. a story reported by "the new york times." in one case, an official was reassigned when he refused to drive pruitt through town with lights and sirens to avoid washington traffic. others were raising concerns about his spending and frequent

pruitt. but mr. wheeler comes in this same agenda ofulling back obama era regular lage,orking closely with different companies. that to me may be the big story here that the pruitt agendaoes on without pruitt. >> and perhaps even moreel effect some people have said some of the regulations are the rollbacks. they face legal challenges and h been overshadowed by all of the controversy around scott uitt. you have someone who is coming in very close to the coal industry who understands the regulations and rule making very wellteill do b at carrying out the president's agenda of rolling back tse things and being more pro-business. >> i think one of the points to make aruut scottt's demise is that people have failed for very different reasons in this administration. aurex tillerson failed b of his inability to develop a relationship with the president. in scott pruitt's case that was never a problem. he hady all accounts a robust relationship with the president. the president stood bhim because of

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

pruitt at the epa for environmental reasons. and he likes having jeff sessions at the justice department on immigration policies, so maybe those two guys won't be moving anywhere anytime soon. but thank you all very much for a great conversation. just ahead, a top conservative congressman speaks out about a report claiming he ignored allegations of sexual abuse. >>> plus, the dangerous and difficult effort that's underway to rescue a boy's soccer team from a flooded cave in thailand. >> how many of you? >> 13. >> 13? brilliant. ♪ you shouldn't be rushed into booking a hotel. with expedia's add-on advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. add-on advantage. only when you book with expedia. add-on advantage. ♪ south l.a. is very medically underserved. when the old hospital closed people in the community lived with untreated health problems for years. so, with the county's help we built a new hospital from the ground up and having citi as an early investor worked as a signa

energy secretary rick perry and scott pruitt also spoke. [applause] [applause] prayer -- thank you for hosting us here today. this is an important day. an important opportunity. our nation's energy security is of paramount importance and the president with his signature on that executive order is going to set in motion government reform designed to promoting -- designed to continue promoting clean air and water or the american. america's leadership, the president's leadership on how we achieve energy independence while improving our environment in this country and abroad is determined more by the actions of this president than at any time. debt we are taking a great in breaking the restraints that have become burdens. this executive order is a rejection of the believe that through for energy is additional federal regulations. mr. president, you understand the path forward is through american ingenuity and entrepreneurship. as important as the action you are about to take is, it is the reaction from the private sector, from these individuals

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

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

he even floated replacing sessions with pruitt this week. what do you know about that? >> don, certainly a number of developments here today. but as for scott pruitt, we do know the president has been thinking about this for several week we know that jeff sessions, attorney general, is the most, you know, the biggest member of the cabinet with a target on his back. he is furious for him for more than a year for recusing himself in the russia investigation. one way around confirming a new attorney general is to appoint an acting attorney general. the only person who can be appointed as an acting attorney general is someone who has been confirmed by the senate already. so scott pruitt, the former attorney general from oklahoma, a member of the president's cabinet, could have slid into that role. so we know the president has been thinking about that as early as this week. but the question now, don, is that out the window given all of these allegations? we know the president is watching that interview on fox news. he is watching it, i'm told, ju

pruitt. [applause] >> thank you very much. welcome to the epa. perhaps some of you this is your first visit to the epa. it's good to see some coalminers. the epa so welcome. [applause] we are gathered in the map room at the epa. maps are to simply help you navigate. maps are to help you work toward a destination journey towards a destination but as we gather today with the president he has set a new journey and a new pathway forward on how we are going to do business with respect to energy and environment. the president by his signature today is rejecting the narrative that this country cannot be both pro energy and pro environment. we have done that throughout our history. we can actually achieve good jobs good growth and pro energy policies at the same time we protect our environment and the president is sending that message by his signature today. number two he is also setting a pathway forward on a journey today that we are no longer going to have regulatory assaults on any given sector of our economy. that's going to end by the signing of th

> because he likes scott pruitt and he loves loyalty and pruitt is doing the bad stuff in the epa but trump said he only hires the best people and thus from from his administration in his cabinet secretaries are the most corrupt and the most unqualified group of people we've seen in our nation's history. and the other thing, and i think in any other administration whether it is democratic or republican, he would have been fired already. he would have been fired by now. pruitt would have never lasted this long. we have to remember, pruitt is the person who lied during his hearing about private e-mail account. >> take a listen to senator john kenny, republican of louisiana talking about pruitt. >> some of his behavior has hurt the president of the united states. and it's hurt the president's credibility and the credibility of all of us. and it would be way cooler if he would behave. and ethics matter and impropriety matters and the appearance of impropriety matters. >> that is jonah goldberg -- that is the help me help you. john kennedy saying, please cut it out. >> it is so easy to lum

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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,

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

i think when donald trump watches ed henry interview scott pruitt and determines that scott pruitt isn't up for the job. it is when donald trump gets jealous of the attention that scott pruitt is getting, or the fact that scott pruitt has carried himself in such a way to act as if he's the president, as if he's the big deal. i think that is the thing. look, donald trump is more than happy to create scandals and controversies that other people have to fix for him. what he's not willing to do is to lose political capital, defending somebody else, and their scandals and controversies. that's why i think that pruitt is very -- on very thin ice, very tenuous right now. >> matt lewis, generjen saki, t y you. >>> at least one state says it is welcoming the help. does your moisturizing romine does. an mvp? aveeno® skin relief. with oat oil and natural shea butter, it softens very dry skin and lasts for 24 hours. aveeno®. it's a game changer. a heart transplant... that's a whole different ballgame. i was in shock. i am very proud of the development of drugs that can prevent the rejection and prev

pruitt's nomination. this is from all sources. i received 1,880 letters opposing his nomination. pretty amazing. we don't get these kind of volume of letters, e-mails or faxes or letters. 1,800 opposed. other the past three months editorial boards across the country have expressed their own serious concerns about this tpho*eupl as well. i -- nominee as well. i want to share a few of those with my colleagues and the world this morning. back in december "the new york times" wrote these words and i will read them. this is december -- a couple of months ago. had donald trump spent an entire year sko*uring the country for someone to weaken the clean air and clean water laws to repudiate america's leadership role in the global battle against climate change, he could not have found a more proper candidate. that is a pretty bold charge. it goes on to say that he is a an aggressively bad choice. again, the e.p.a. wasn't created in a law signed by a democrat, it was by a republican. the clean air act clean water ac

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

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

how does pruitt survive these scandals?rely there is someone else qualified to dismantle the environmental regulations that president trump could pick the lead the epa how is scott pruitt surviving? the reason he's been able to survive is he is implementing and executing on a policy prescription that very much matches donald trump and a lot of his supporters' agenda. so he's following through day to day with accomplishing the roleback of regulations as you say. what it does, though, of course, is it pits it against this pledge to drain the swamp so you have the swampiest of swamp creatures apparently we're learning more and more each day that he is that. he is achieving a policy that the president wants to see implemented. >> this is so far beyond the swamp. it's like a tsunami meets a swamp. it's a swampnami. >> is there spelunking? >> you watch the drew piece, there are questions of the law here. eventually the law is going to catch up to scott pruitt. if they're scrubbing the calendar, that appears to be a violation of t

so as goes pruitt and zinke and carson. and john kelly is saying get rid of him and the president is completely disregarding his chief of staff. >> that relationship changed at least a few weeks ago where donald trump has wanted for a long time to be free to make the decisions, especially on administration, that he wants to make. he knows that the narrative and the media that john kelly was brought in to bring the president to heel. you've seen the succession of people that donald trump has moved out. he moved out mcmaster, he moved out rex tillerson at the state department. scott pruitt has a constituency, he's popular with republicans. mcmaster was never like a base guy. this is going to be trickier for trump. but john kelly, you know, he's sticking to the same message but if the president wants him to stay, pruitt may be hanging on. >> thank you very much. and next, donald trump unhinged today talking about conspiracy theories and mexican rapists. >> women are raped at levels that nobody's ever seen before. >> plus the p

off has been pruitt's biggest supporter. has started questioning and saying he wants investigations into pruitt's behavior which energy insiders and d.c. thought was a watershed moment. host: a few minutes before that hearing is scheduled to start, the members taking their seats in the energy and commerce hearing room, there is congressman shimkus in the chairman's seat. why is he in the chairman spot today? guest: it is a subcommittee, so he is acting as chairman today. democrataul tonko, the from new york is the ranking member. host: they will be running today? hearing -- they will be running today's hearing? i am mad and -- will wants to get questions in as well. gas -- wants to get questions in as well. airing thisl meeting again this evening on c-span 2. caller: good morning. think the lady left off a couple of points of interest. an ethics committee approved the lease for that suite. , the science issue, it was not that they had to use -- they had to reveal their base data and they had to be subjected to successful pee