mr. pruitt. he is pruitt. he is accompanied by holly grave who is the chief financial officer for the agency. thank you both for coming back before the subcommittee. just a reminder the colleagues will follow the early bird rule. we'll have six minutes rounds of questions. i anticipate that there will be substantial interest in hearing this morning. so i ask members to try to stick with the time limit. we can do multiple rounds but the administrator has a hard stop at noon. so we will be working meet that. we also have a couple of votes at noon as well. each year the subcommittee holds a hearing to examine the e.p.a.'s budget request. in some years the budget is the focus of the committee. in other agencies actions draw the majority of the question. i would suggest that the size of the audience this morning is an indicator of substantial interest in this year's hearing. so i look forward to the dialogue. administrator pruitt, when you were before the committee last year, you said that you would work to return

mr. pruitt? >> i do. thank 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.

mr. pruitt has been in charge of working to remove mr. pruitt and given the sort of medicaid of problems, how close -- what's the status of the review that you guys have been saying and is the president closer to moving this? > i don't have any personnel announcements on that front. certainly we have confidence in the number two, otherwise the wouldn't have asked him to serve at such a senior level position within the epa ut i don't have anything further on that front. justin? >> i wanted to catch back up on the delegation came back. haduming that the president some sort of briefing on that interaction now, can you tell us that action to the talks happened, if the u.s. plans to alk to china again before the mid 2022 public comment deadline and what the next steps are? the president had a briefing this morning with members of the team that traveled. a great dent has relationship with the president and we're working on something think will be great for everybody. china's top economic adviser, premier, will be coming here next week to continu

mr. pruitt: i am sorry. investigation? >> do you support special counsel mueller completing his investigation? mr. pruitt: i am not --i think the process is continuing. >> it is a simple yes or no. do you support him completing his investigation? you are a law enforcement official. mr. pruitt: i think as attorney general, it is important for law enforcement, those investigators to serve prosecutors to provide adequate information to them to make informed decisions about whether to proceed. i did that as attorney general and i would hope that happened at a federal level as well. >> as you know, the right answer is yes. whenever there is an ongoing nvestigation, a president or rudolph giuliani or anybody else should not be interfering in that investigation, putting time limits on it or anything else. that's the reality. i am asking the questions. yesterday i requested an inquiry into the april 13 two weeks from the -- tweet from the e.p.a. official account where you mocked democratic senators opposing an e.p.a. official. are

mr. pruitt has been in charge of working to remove mr. pruitt -- were you to remove mr. of ethical problem, how close is -- what is the status of the review that you guys have been saying you are doing and is the president closer to removing mr. pruitt from office? >> i don't have any personnel announcements on that front. certainly we have confidence in the number two, otherwise the president wouldn't have asked him to serve at such a senior level position. but i don't have anything further on that front. >> i wanted to catch back up on china after the delegation came back. presuming that the president has had some briefing on that interaction now, can you tell us his reaction to the talks that happened, if the u.s. plans to talk to china again before the may 22 public comment deadline and what the next steps are? >> the president had a briefing this morning with members of the team that traveled. the president has a great relationship with president xi and we're working on something is that he with thiw we think w for everybody. xh china's vice premiere will be coming

mr. 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

mr. pruitt requested 24/7 protection. so i know you keep trying to say this says that it was their idea. this says they made that decision after you requested it. >> i can only say, senator, i did not decide, direct that decision to be made. that was made by the office of criminal enforcement. i was aware of the process taking place prior to my arrival. you remember my confirmation process, senator, it was fairly competitive and intense and there was ongoing process -- >> i'm just reading. we are all trying to figure out what the facts are here. i'm simply reading -- >> and i am as well. >> -- from the ig report and the ig report says their decision was made after you requested 24/7 protection. not that it was made because they conclude that had there was a need for 24/7. >> the inspector general in my view was simply trying to clarify that they don't engage in assessments. that's the protective service detail that does that. the document that was referred to earlier, i think ranking menu doll mentioned of, of august, tha

mr. pruitt has been in charge of were he to remove mr. pruitt?d given the sort of cascade of ethical problems, how close is -- what is the status of the review you have been saying you are doing and is the president closer to removing mr. pruitt from office? >> sarah: i don't have any personnel announcements on that front. certainly we have confidence in the number two. otherwise the president would haven't asked him to serve at a senior level position within the e.p.a. but i don't have anything further on that front. >> reporter: i want to catch back up on china after the delegation came back. presuming that the president has had some sort of briefing on the interaction now. can you tell us his reaction to the talks that happened if the u.s. plans to talk to china again before the may 22 public deadline and what the next steps are? >> sarah: the president had a briefing this morning with the members of the team that traveled. the president has a great relationship with the president and we are working on something we think will be great for ever

mr. pruitt has been in charge of were he to remove mr. pruitt? and given the sort of cascade of ethical problems, how close is -- what's the status of the review that you guys have been saying that you're doing, and is the president closer to removing mr. pruitt from office? >> i don't have any personnel announcements on that front. certainly we have confidence in the number two. otherwise, the president wouldn't have asked had imto serve such a senior level position within the epa. i don't have anything further on that front. >> i want to touch back on china after the delegation came back. presuming that the president's had some briefing on that interaction now, can you tell us his reaction to the talks that happened if the u.s. plans to talk to china again before the may 22 public common deadline and what the sort of next steps are? >> sure. the president had a briefing this morning with members of the team that traveled. the president has a great relationship with president xi and we are working on something that we think will be great for eve

mr. pruitt and given the cascade of ethical problems, how close is -- what's the status of the rejew you -- review yo guys have been doing and is the president closer to removing mr. putin if office? ms. sanders: i don't have any personnel announcements on that front. we have confidence in the number two or the president wouldn't have asked him to serve at such a senior level position at the e.p.a. i don't have anything further on that front. reporter: i want to catch back up about china after the delegation came back. the president had some sort of breaking on that interaction now can you tell us his reaction to the talks that happened, if the u.s. plans to talk to china again before the may 22 public comment deadline and what sort of next steps are. ms. sanders: the president has a briefing this morning with the members who traveled this epresident has a great relationship with president shi and we are working on something we think will be great for everybody. china's top economic adviseor will be coming here next week to continue the discussions with the president's economic team. we'

mr. pruitt's first classravel and oth activities. and mr.ly who by all accounts had taken a serious role, a policy-oriented role at the department is under scrutiny for some of his financial dealings back in oklahoma. >> as we said initlly, scott ruitt is under 11 different investigations, and manyw dered why he is still in this job, but obviously the predent still has full faith in him. many pointed out this is pbably because he has b so tenacious in undoing president obama's environmental regulations. one has beenowering, apparently, the fuel emissions standards for automobiles. this was a big part of thebama legacy and something that scott pruitt has been rolling back on. this week california and 16th o states said they are going to file suit to try to block the e.p.a. from lowering the national standards. from an automaker perspective, if you are looking and wondering at california and some states anand e.p.a. arguing something e blse, it has tough on the industry. >> yes, a few yars we're talking about model 2022 which goes on salen 202

mr. pruitt's focus before the trip or during.e did enengage in the discussions with the accord, but that said he was really focused on the issue of natural gas exports from the united states to morocco. and so it clearly was not a huge -- it was a component of the trip and it is also worth noting that he identified that the moroccan ambassador raised this issue of natural gas exports from the u.s. to morocco, which is true, but it's also worth noting that planning for the trip was well under way by the time he met with the ambassador in a meeting that was arranged in part by mr. smotkin. >> thanks for coming on the show and talking through your new reporting for utz. we're going to stay on top of the story. >>> coming up after the break, texas is leading the charge on a law aimed to end the daca program. the six other states joining the action, and what's the texas attorney general has to say about it because attorney general ken paxton is joining me live, there he is, in just a couple of minutes. what are you supposed to do? dri

mr. pruitt couldn't answer it. he is under so many investigations for his self-dealing swampy behavior that he couldn't give a number. the answer is at least 15, at least 15 investigations and now we have a sitting cabinet member raising money from an outside legal defense fund, and we don't even know who is paying. scott pruitt was hired for a reason. his big polluter backers put him in charge because they knew he would put their profits first. he is selling away our clean air and clean water to the highest bidder, as long as he can keep his first-class seats and 24/7 security, as long as the special interests continue to bank roll his political future. americans look at people like scott pruitt and they see a washington that is not just hopelessly out of touch, but fundamentally broken. democrats have a plan to fix it, with historic reforms to put the american people back in charge and restore faith in our democracy. and it starts with ending the strange willhold of big money on of big money on our electoral syst

mr. pruitt. watch this. >> mr. president, do you have confidence in pruitt?es the controversy. special report pruitt under fire battle at the epa airs next hour. > -♪ he's got legs of lumber and arms of steel ♪ ♪ he eats a bowl of hammers at every meal ♪ ♪ he holds your house in the palm of his hand ♪ ♪ he's your home and auto man ♪ big jim, he's got you covered ♪ ♪ great big jim, there ain't no other ♪ -so, this is covered, right? -yes, ma'am. take care of it for you right now. giddyup! hi! this is jamie. we need some help. feeclaritin and relief fromwsy symptoms caused by over 200 allergens. like those from buddy. because stuffed animals are clearly no substitute for real ones. feel the clarity. and live claritin clear. . >>> a busy friday news night. let's shift gears. anthony bourdain takes us to newfoundland. >> a beautiful lake. rustic cabins. a few friends can hunt and forage and perhaps in between combing the wilds in search of the elusive moose, throw together a simple wilderness mee meal around the campfire. nothing fancy. just the bare essentials.

mr. pruitt. watch this. >> mr. president, do you have confidence in pruitt?es i do. >> drew griffin investigates the controversy. special report pruitt under fire battle at the epa airs next hour. the vatican official, a climate change denier accused of sexual abuse. the next aid of pruit said they intentionally kept the event with the vatican cardinal off his official schedule. earlier today a reporter asked the president about mr. pruit. watch this. he still has the support of the president. coming up, drew griffin investigates the controversy surround thing member of the cabinet and the cnn special report, "pruit enter fire, the battle at the epa" area next hour. >>> stay with us, ahead is anderson's visit with anthony bourdain and the latest installments of "parts unknown." the new destination, new finland. on any one of thousands of risky sites, so you'll be in the know. ewww! being in the know is very good. don't shake! ahhh! sign up online for free. discover social security alerts. we just switched to geico and got more. more? they've been saving folks

mr. pruitt is now going to learn what a lot of presidential candidates have learned in primaries going intoth ethanol. >> is there a straw that ultimately breaks pruitt's back? there is so much in this body. he hasn't supported anything so far. >> it depends how much the president will tolerate. new allegations keep coming out. it is the conservative movement, as you pointed out. it's a strong movement on the right who likes what he's doing. >> there is also kind of a disappearing cabinet and the president's challenges in replacing them. i think if gina haspel is successful in her confirmation, it removes one big obstacle. >> i think the senate wants to go home, they don't want to deal with this. vice president mike pence helps push the agenda every day, but is that help? creating some tension with the boss. which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist. with tripadvisor, finding your perfect hotel at the lowest price... is as easy as dates, deals, done! simply enter your destination and dates... and see all the hotels for your stay! tripadvisor s

mr. pruitt's staff made repeated phone calls to him that went unanswered. to his condo -- you know, the one owned by the energy lobbyist -- to make sure he was okay. they tried calling him and pounding on the door thinking he might be unconscious so finally they broke down the door and what they found on the other side was a very confused epa administrator waking up from a nap. oops. the epa footed the bill for that nap. they charged taxpayers $2500 to replace the front door they busted down. this has been by far the one of the stranger scott pruitt scandals, not w standing the secret phone booth. but now the "new york times" has filled in the blanks with e-mails they obtained through the epa through a freedom of information act request. we know what time scott pruitt's security detail kaccame chargin through his front door. 5:20 p.m. redacted is on site and breaching redacted door to again a access. 37 minutes later the whole thing is done and dusted 5:57 p.m. all good except for a couple of doors we'll have to pick up the tab for so he tells his staff he's

mr. pruitt requested 24/7 protection once he was confirmed as administrator and security detail began providing 24/7 coverage of the administrator the first day he arrived at the epa. that contradicts the story that pruitt and the epa have been telling the public. here he is, anderson, at a hearing before congress last month reading from a threat. >> i'm going to find you and put a bullet between your eyes. don't think i'm joking. i'm planning this. >> gentleman's time has expired. >> these are threats the i.g. has documented. >> so now to be clear, the inspector general is the i.g., that's what he's talking about, and that review was completed six months into his tenure. in august of 2017. that's well after he requested this extra security. no previous add straiter has ever requested such elaborate measures. and the security detail head who has since retired cited security concerns to justify those first-class plane tickets for pruitt as well. he also hired more agents to guard pruitt around the clock. we calculated that those salaries, alone, cost the agency about $2 million per year. now, se

mr. pruitt's favorite thing, foreign travel. g the winter of '77. i first met james in 5th grade.ege. and had twin boys. but then one night, a truck didn't stop. but thanks to our forester, neither did our story. and that's why we'll always drive a subaru. welcome to holiday inn! thank you! ♪ ♪ wait, i have something for you! every stay is a special stay at holiday inn. save up to 15% when you book early at hollidayinn.com save up to 15% when you book early over 5 million americans signed our petition to impeach this president. this is not about political parties. we all understand that this president would be replaced by another republican. this is much bigger than washington politics. it's about the safety and security of our country. no one is above the law. join us at needtoimpeach.com. let's tell congress that if they won't do something, we'll elect new representatives who will. so allstate is giving us money back on our bill. well, that seems fair. we didn't use it. wish we got money back on gym memberships. get money back hilarious. with claim-free rewards. switching to all

mr. president, brian smith -- [inaudible] >> yes. >> scott pruitt, epa. >> mr. president, thanks for having us, jim hackett, ford motor company. >> we know you well. so these are the biggest in the world, and we're going to be talking to them, and we want hem to build more cars in the united states and also build them here and ship them overseas. we're doing a reverse act, and that's going to be something, i think, that's happening. and we see it happening. a lot of it has to do with the great tax cuts and tax incentives that people have been given. and we have other incentives coming. so we appreciate you all being here: thank you very much, everybody. thank you. >> [inaudible] >> do you have confidence in mr. pruitt, mr. president? >> yes, i do. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> are you concerned that nafta may adversely affect -- >> we'll see what happens. we're negotiating nafta right now. i've never been a nafta fan, as you know, nafta's been a terrible deal for the united states, and one of the worst bad deals in this

mr. trump took the opposite tack today on his e.p.a. administrator, scott pruitt. s still under fire over potential ethical lapsesnd spending issues. >> mr. president! do you still have confiden in administrator pruitt, mr. president? >> yes, i do, thank you. ca reporter: white house aide kelly sadler als under criticism today. she reportedly dismissed senator john mccain's opposition to c.i.a. nominee gina haspel. mccain has brain cancer, and several news accounts quoted sadler as saying: "it doesn't matter, he's dying anyway." mccain's daughter, meghan, responded on "the view." i on't understand what kind of environment you're working in when that would be acceptable t and you can cowork the next day and still have a job. >> reporter: the white house today refused to confirm sadler's comment, but did sayl she strks for the white house. it did previously put out a statement saying, "we respect senator mccain's service to our nation." for the pbs newshour, i' yamiche alcindor. >> nawazin the day's other news, violence erupted again at gaza's border with israel. gaza

the fifth new name is also scott pruitt epa guy, the chief of security at scott pruitt's epa, mr. was the driving force behind the epa's massive security expenditures under pruitt, including the soundproof booth -- soundproof booth he put in his office that is definitely not a skiff, even though he told congress it was. nino perrotta was supposed to testify about that today on to house members of the oversight committee. we're told he did show up for that testimony. but 24 hours before he showed up for the testimony, he unexpectedly retired, which isn't sketchy at all. and that brings us to the big fish. today, the trump administration also lost ty cobb, the white house-employed lawyer, not a private lawyer working for the president, but a lawyer working for the white house, so, we've been paying his salary. he has been running point for the white house on all things related to the russia investigation. mr. cobb told "the new york times" that he told the president weeks ago that he was going to retire. okay, maybe. but he didn't mention his impending retirement today in a long inte

. >> do you still have confidence in administrator pruitt, mr. president? >> yesh, i do. >> you have the russia appropriation, the president's question of decency and then the question of how do you take it all on? it was interesting that ralph nader, who many democrats have a beef with, hammered democrats back and issued this challenge. >> i think the democratic party should take the third-party agenda away from it. they should have a living wage, crack down on corporate crime. democratic party stop scapegoating, look in the mirror and ask yourself why you cannot landslide the worst, the most ignorant, the most corporate endentured, the most cruelest republican party in history. look in the mirror. >> we turn to a prominent democrat. mike murphy, an msnbc contributor, a strategist for none other than john mccain. i'll get to that in a second. but cornel, your response to ralph. >> i think it's fair, right. i think if you look at barack obama's back-to-back majorities and we grew the electorate and brought in a lot of young voters and they were obama voters

. >> do you feel confidence in administrator pruitt, mr. president? >> yes, i do. thank you. >> reporter: so the president expressing confidence in his epa administrator who was sitting just a couple of feet away when they were meeting with auto ceo's here at the white house to talk about fuel energy standards but white house officials are waiting for the outcome of 12 or so separate investigations about scott pruitt. his spending, his ethics other habits at the epa. so it is unclear whether he will stay in the position. and this is as we are ending another week on who the next v.a. secretary will be and that position was opened since the last one was fired. wolf. >> jeff zeleny. conservative critics of the special counsel russia investigation may have found a new avenue of attack. let's go to our correspondent manu raju up on capitol hill. manu, more pressure tonight on robert mueller investigation from some key house republicans. >> reporter: conservatives in the house have been targeting the special counsel investigation for weeks finding new areas to try to get

. >> scott pruitt, epa >> mr. president, thanks for having us. jim hackett, ford motor company. >> we know you well. so these are the biggest in the world. we're going to be talking to them, and we want them to build more cars in the united states and also build them here and ship them overseas we're doing a reverse act. and that's going to be something i think that's happening, and we see it happening, a lot of it has to do with the great tax cuts and tax incentives that people have been given and we have other incentives coming so we appreciate you all being here and thank you very much, everybody. appreciate it. thank you. >> do you have confidence in administrator pruitt >> yes, i do thank you very much, everybody thank you. >> time to go. >> say it. >> are you concerned nafta may adversely affect - >> we'll see what happens. we're negotiating nafta. i have never been a nafta fan, as you know. nafta has been a terrible deal for the united states, one of the worst great deals in history. we have some bad deals in this country, between the iran

mr. rodriguez, welcome. scott pruitt is now attacking the fuel economy standards, which were reached as in agreement with california and all the waiver states, along with the epa and nhtsa in 2010-2011. that would reduce our imports of oil that increased 3.5 million barrels of oil a day, which is roughly equivalent to what we import from opec on a daily basis. seems like a pretty important thing to do to keep on the books. and it also is still the largest single reduction that any law, any country has ever put on the books to reduce greenhouse gases, that one decision. so, it is huge, and i take a great deal of pride in it because i was the house author of that legislation in the same way senator feinstein, senator stevens were the senate authors of that bill. that's a 2007 bill that was relied upon by d.o.t. so, what do you think about scott pruitt's statement that the standards are too hard to meet, that it's just an unfair imposition on the auto industry? do you agree with that? >> no. we did a very, very through tech

mr. flood should consult with secretary pruitt and find a short-term rental.i don't think he should close his office up, because he won't be in the white house long either. this man is an uncaring, unethical individual who will bully anybody and takes borders and moves them down the field. and anybody with character or conscience cannot stay attached to him, and if they do for long, they will be sullied and end up like dr. ronny jackson with a questionable period in their life when they had none up to that point. >> congressman, thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me, wolf. >>> coming up, a rather scary situation on another southwest airlines flight. another window cracking, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing. stand by for details. i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. ancestrydna can pinpoint where your ancestors are from and the paths they took to a new home. could their journey inspire yours? order your kit at ancest

the president was also asked if he has confidence in epa administrator scott pruitt, to which mr.lied yes i do. challenging -- the federal judge has rejected the government's bid to dismiss this lawsuit wrought by the aclu and electronic frontier foundation. the fourth amendment requires law enforcement to obtain warrants before searches, but there are exceptions for searches at airports and at u.s. ports of entry. denied thatuse has an administration official dismissed senator john mccain's opposition. -- opposition to president itmp's cia nominee, saying doesn't matter because "he was dying anyway." the 81-year-old arizona republican is battling brain cancer. german chancellor angela merkel was critical of president trump's decision to pull the u.s. out of the iran nuclear deal. she says the president has damage trust in international order. meanwhile, merkel discussed the matter with russian president vladimir putin. the kremlin says they agreed to keep complying with the iran accord. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on tic-toc on twitter, powered by journalists and anal

and pruitt gave no reason for their unexpected departures. "okay, mr. johnson, what was the reason you left your last position? "oh, i just thought it was time to follow my dream of working somewhere that is not under 11 investigations. and this panera seems nice. do we cut the bread or does the bread come pre-cut?" but that's only one of the latest controversies surrounding pruitt, because he's also under fire for a $100,000 trip to morocco, and the revelation that the lobbyist who organized the trip for pruitt was then hired by the government of morocco as a $40,000-a-month foreign agent. 40 grand? for that kind of money, you could join the soundproof booth of the month club! of course, the e.p.a. insists that his trip to morocco was a legitimate effort to nail down details of a bilateral trade agreement. and thanks to scott pruitt denying global warming, we'll soon be trading climates with morocco. ( laughter ) speaking of shady business, a museum in southern france has discovered more than half its collection is fake. yeah, yeah, they're pretty upse

mr. drikmeier, peter, welcome. >> thank you, president kwon. and commissioners. peter drikmeyer, the river trust. all aware scott pruittnd the trump administration have waged a war on the environment, and it's something we need to pay attention to. and it's san francisco's values. i wanted to read you a few figures from a public opinion poll, on san francisco attitude towards water rates and water supplies. and the number one reason that people were much more inclined to support diversifying the water supply was the environment and the question was, or the statement, this proposal will be good for the environment by using other sources of water, less water will be taken from california rivers and more freshwater available to the fish, wildlife and plants that depend on it. and another question recycled water for irrigation and the environment was the number one reason. the more recycled water we use the less we take out of rivers and streams and the scarce water supplies. good for the fish, plants and wildlife that rely on them. 84% polled felt it was a convincing argument for reliable water supply and having drought-p

mr. trump have the authority to fire at james comey. -- deral judge he suggested prosecutors to metaphor too get seeing against the president. scott pruitt's top spokesperson also leaving. global news 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. crumpton. bloomberg technology is next. -- i'm mark crumpton. bloomberg technology is next. coming up, apple shares hit a record after warren buffett makes another big on the stock. over the cartle commending them an edge in southeast asia. what it means for the tech industry and asia going forward. but first, shares of apple hitting an all-time high. the stock rose after warren he bought ancnbc additional $75 million -- 75 million shares. apple as earnings wrap up, let's bring in kevin kelly. we will start with you. a big vote of confidence against buffett. wrecks this is a info of confidence -- confidence. andhave the buffett news now you get into a june, september quarter. i think now this could be the yellow brick road to a $1 trillion market cap. aheadk there is good news . >> that said, you know the smartphone market is saturating traded will apple

mr. schiller was also present. john? >> weijia, thanks. >>> epa administrator scott pruitt faces more questions over his relationship with a lobbyist. his trip to morocco in december was partially arranged by a longtime friend richard smotkin. four months later smotkin signed a $40,000-a-month contract. >>> more than a dozen tornadoes tore through the central u.s. this massive tornado was spotted yesterday.und in kansas it was one of more than 18 tornados spawned by the storm's system. twisters ended a tornado drought in kansas and oklahoma where the severe weather season was off to a slow start. no injuries or major damage are reported. tornadoes and hail threatened kansas and oklahoma today. meteorologist danielle niles of our station wbz is tracking this severe weather. danielle, good morning. >> gayle, good morning to you. the radar scopes may be quiet right now, but things are going to light up and fire up again today until some of the same areas that were hit hard yesterday. i think the initialization is between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m., but the most intense activity will be between 4:00 and 11:00 p.m. with numerous, str

mr. trump using the office of the presidency to enrich his family personally. it would be easy to dismiss if there weren't a plague of stories about scott pruitt spending money ande weren't stories about the president's son-in-law having to update his disclosure forms 40 times or his hud secretary ordering a $31,000 dining room set by accident. why haven't we heard about any of these stories? maybe it's congress. maybe they don't want to investigate. instead of hearings, we get congressional crickets. maybe there's too many of them at once. maybe we've got from too big to fail to too much to read. maybe we've been focused on the russia scandal that we don't have the band width for out rras that don't immediate the treason criteria. none of these meet that the way russia does. maybe it's like mr. burn who had so many diseases all at once that none of them could do him any harm. >> any's the door to your body. these are oversized november novemberty -- novelty germs. here is what happen when they all try to get through the door at once. move it. we call it three stooges syndrome. >> yes the simpsons and the three stooges are fun. a lot has been swept under the rug

mr. hart had lobbying contact with the environmental protection agency in the first quarter of 2018, period. >> just this week after it was discovered that scott pruittarate agency e-mail addresses, the watchdog agreed to look how the agency e-mails and text messages are archived. democratic senators and agency lawyers were reportedly alarmed by the possibility that pruitt could use different addresses to hide conversations from, say, freedom of information requests. the numbers for pruitt are pretty stunning. he has 14 ongoing investigations, one pending, and one complete. that's eight under the epa nonresponsive general's office, two from the government accountability office, one from the house oversight and government reform committee, one from the office of the special counsel and from the white house. turns out pruitt's $43,000 soundproof office phone booth was a violation of spending laws. another break. >>> coming up as we head to the shank of the broadcast, the closing moments of this week, really. if you're a kid from l.a. as the bride is, then it's a destination wedding. a final word tonight about what is getting under way just a few short