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. >>> just ahead, what president trump said about epa chief scott pruitt. al report, pruitt under fire, the battle for the epa. your new brother-in-law. you like him. he's one of those guys who always smells good. his 5 o'clock shadow is always at 5 o'clock. you like him. your mom says he's done really well for himself. he has stocks and bonds your dad wants to go fishing with him. your dad doesn't even like fishing. you like your brother-in-law. but you'd like him better if you made more money than he does. don't get mad at your brother-in-law. get e*trade and my brother ray and i started searching for answers. (vo) when it's time to navigate in-home care, follow that bright star. because brightstar care earns the same accreditation as the best hospitals. and brightstar care means an rn will customize a plan that evolves with mom's changing needs. (woman) because dad made us promise we'd keep mom at home. (vo) call 844-4-brightstar for your free home care planning guide. >>> scott pruitt under scrutiny for another reason, documents uncovered reveal pruitt d

. >> what about scott pruitt? he's part of your -- >> let me be clear about draining the swamp. rolling back regulation, rolling back special interest, cutting taxes for families. >> respectfully, the essence challenge of scott pruitt. >> that's the reason you see this country standing tall on the world stage. i think it's the reason why we're making the progress that we're making around the wild wider world. >> do you feel fcomfortable wit the behavior of scott pruitt? >> he's done an outstanding job lifting the burden of regulations stifling american business across this country. we believe that much of the economic growth we've seen over the last 15 months has been as much a result of deregulation as it's been that the tax reforms that are just now beginning to have an impact on the economy. we're very grateful for scott pruitt's leadership and i just would tell you that the president and i will continue to stay focused on all the kind of

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

seated two seats away from the president at this meeting was epa administrator scott pruitt.cott pruitt, of course, under fire for spending at the agency, for questions about the cost of security, for questions about why they spent tens of thousands of dollars on a soundproof booth. as the president meets with automakers here, one key question from reporters, do you still support scott pruitt? >> thank you very much. we have at this table the biggest car manufacturers in the world all represented by their top people. we had probably my first meeting was with you and the group and we've made a lot of progress in the last year and a half. we're working on cafe standards, environmental controls, how to build more cars in the united states. we have great capacity for building. we want a lot of the cars to be made in the united states. i think what we'll do very quickly, because we're represented by so much media, we'll just run around the room real quickly and you can introduce yourself in the company. we'll talk a couple minutes and we're going to talk privately. we are again, f

"on march 29 last year, scott pruitt vanished for several hours after reporting to his staff he was feeling phone calls to him that went unanswered. scott pruitt's security detail rushed 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 fo

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 system. our plan will take the power out of the hands of billionaire donors and put it back in the hands of ordinary americans. we'll create a 21st century system that truly empowers small donors and shine a light on dark money so american people aren't in the dark. we'll pass the democracy for all constitutional amendment to

epa scott pruitt disappeared argued to "the new york times" pruitt wasn't feel well. staff he was growingy had a headache the next day still feeling crumby so ducked out early. that's when i kind of just dropped off the face of the earth. quote on march 29th last year scott pruitt vanished for several hours after recording to staff he felt ill. the staff made repeated phone calls that went unanswered. his security detail rushed to his condo owned by the energy lobbyist to make sure he was he was okay. tried pounding on the door thinking he might be unconscious. so finally they straight up broke down the door. and what they found on the other side was a very confused epa administering waking up from a nap. oops. the epa ended up footing the bill for that expensive nap. charged taxpayers $2,500 bucks to replace the front door they busted down. the news has been by far the one of the stranger scott pruitt scandal even notwithstanding the secret phone big time. but now "the new york times" filled in blanc with emails they ob trained the epa through the freedom of informat

the president saying he has confidence in scott pruitt while his white house said they're tl are somepruitt is back in the news for all of the wrong reasons today after "the new york times" obtained documents about a dinner that he had with a catholic cardinal accused of child sexual abuse. sarah gannon reports. >> reporter: documents uncovered by the new york times reveal epa administrator scott pruitt dined with a controversial vatican figure, along with over a dozen other church leaders at a five-star restaurant during his trip to italy last year, even though his public schedule said he was simply having a private dinner with staff. >> sometimes the very learned and -- can be brilliantly foolish. >> reporter: the guest of honor according to the document was a known climate denier, cardinal george pell. >> are there any long-term benefits from the schemes to combat global warming, path to extra effort and income for those with the extreme. >> reporter: and bell is the highest ranking member of the catholic church to be charged with child sexual abuse. decades of allegations are now

we'll have much more on the many controversies dogging scott pruitt. drew griffin ves gaits. tonight at 9:20 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. 920 p.m. eastern. >>> fin >>> finally, we want to say thank you to a cnn situation room original. after nearly 13 years working with our team, our supervising producer is leaving washington. he's leaving our staff. there you see him right there. give us a big smile. but he's staying in the cnn family fortunately. he is going to help launch cnn's new program, cuomo prime time. we're sending him, his wife, their daughter, off with all of our very, very best wishes. he's tell iing me to wrap up because the end of our show. vaughn, good look to you. we love you. only, only the best. thanks very much for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> "outfront" next, no apoloap. refusing to condemn a cruel joke about john mccain. what's so hard about saying i'm sorry? and the president's chief of staff knock backing down about undocumented imgranls that some say are racist. plus, rudy giuliani in court today. only thing, client wasn't

with people who hate being regulated. >> true. >> he has all of his friends who like guys like scott pruittuitt doesn't believe in the epa, so make him head of the epa. he doesn't want any environmental regulation. business is always going to cost him money and they're always going to be against it. his job is to get rid of the regulation, so they love him. he's the swamp creature. >> when you do get a businessman in the white house, maybe this is what happens. propublica can'ted ov ed-- coun various appointees who were former lobbyists and now they're working in the agencies who they formally lobbied. there are even more who have gotten wavers so they can work outside and act as consultants inside the government. this is kind of business as usual these days, but this is trump's idea of draining the swamp. >> if you talk to any businessperson, what they want is two things. they want lower taxes. this guy delivered. gave them what they want. all kinds of reductions in cap gains everything and. he did what they wanted. he delivered as a lobbyist himself. trump was -- second, they all want to

but that's not what scott pruitt means by cooperative federalism. to pruitt, cooperative federalism means having the epa do less to reduce pollution and hand over more of the work to the states, all while proposing fewer financial resources to the states to do this work. and if some states are less interested in reducing pollution or don't have the resources to develop and enforce rules limiti limiting pollution, then so much the better. because, you see, that is pruitt's goal here. cooperative federalism is code for epa and some states walking away from their core mission of protecting human health and the environment. any time a state takes strong action to reduce pollution, pruitt's epa either opposes the initiative or slow walks it. pruitt's version of cooperative federalism is a one-way street towards more pollution. states are encouraged to take the lead in reducing pollution, so long as they don't actually try to reduce pollution. pruitt's recent decision to waterdown corporate fuel economy standards, is an example of how cooperative federalis

list is growing longer and longer, another round of bad headlines for embattled epa administrator scott pruitt close out a rough week. cnn is now learning pruitt paid himself nearly $65,000 in reimbursements from his two campaigns for oklahoma attorney general. this as "the washington post" is reporting another travel scandal that pruitt made a list of countries he hoped to visit and he urged his aides to help him find official reasons to travel to those countries and just a reminder, what you are seeing on the screen there, those are just the headlines from this week alone. joining us now to discuss, cnn contributor and former director of the office of government ethics, walter schaub, and cnn political commentator and former special assistant to president george w. bush, scott jennings is back with us. any other administration -- you've served under previous administrations, would scott pruitt still have a job? >> well, i think some of the things that have happened to pruitt are not good. the one good thing that's happened to pruitt that is good is that trump still likes the job that he's do

people have got to start getting upset about it. >> so scott pruitt's epa makes the argument that this is all legit, right? he's got security concerns. we talk about the italy travel pruitt is said he was attending important meetings at the g-7. and then he said was dumbfounded by all the attention it generated. should he have been dumbfounded? >> he shouldn't have been given the previous trips'd taken. when he went to morocco there was no good reason for him to be there. but he was talking about liquefied natural gas, as i understand it, so that didn't make any sense. the trip to italy, meeting with the g-7s, you do that but you don't eat in the five-star restaurants, or at leave i never did. >> talk about that because is he make a credible argument that he had to travel, the epa will point to past administrators like yourself and whorthss did do travel, you have to go around the world and take some of these meetings. is that not a fair argument? >> that's a fair argument but do you it where you have epa business. if you're meeting with the other ministers for the environment, that's

plus, the scandals keep on piling up for scott pruitt. more questions about the epa chief and $100,000 trip to morocco. >>> also the battle at the border despite the president's attacks on that migrant caravan, dozens of them seeking asylum have already been processed. next. and start to cause what we call acid erosion. if there's a thinning of the enamel, the teeth actually start to appear more yellow. with pronamel, it is making your teeth harder and stronger and more resistant to wear. start using pronamel right away and have that be your toothpaste for the rest of your life. these are the last set of teeth that you're getting, you don't get another set, you have to protect them. ♪ the nation's largest senior-living referral service. for the past five years, i've spoken with hundreds of families and visited senior-care communities around the country. and i've got to tell you, today's senior-living communities are better than ever. these days, there are amazing amenities, like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public ca

scott pruitt is donald trump on steroids without money. right. so he is just out for scott pruitt. me to be out for themselves. now, the question is, does this go beyond these individuals and cut to the republican party? does it go beyond the republican party and cut to the very state? all of these folk who claim a hold on government. we are in a crisis moment. and we need to understand that. we need to see it without -- >> let's just talk about the job security. there are republicans who are saying i want to look the other way because it is so hard to put somebody in this position, get them confirmed. we've got more and more people leaving the epa this week. the most recent, one of the spokespeople. at no point -- >> well, it's insulting to say scott pruitt is the only man, treating him like he's some savior of regulation inside the epa. they're saying he's just so irreplaceable. i think that's insulting to all the men and women who would do the job and serve the public interest and not waste taxpayer dollars. i think that your point is very important about what happened in oklaho

. >>> epa administrator scott pruitt will be on capitol hill this week, he's likely to take questionsbits. but then there's an investigation centering on who pruitt has been dining with, that story, next. my mom's pain from moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis was intense. i wondered if she could do the stuff she does for us which is kinda, a lot. and if that pain could mean something worse. joint pain could mean joint damage. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop further damage enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common. or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. since enbrel, my mom's back to being my mom. visit enbrel.com... and use th

to take a look at it. >> scott pruitt hasn't given an interview in many weeks n other administrationsably still wouldn't have his job. we'll see where this goes. >>> just want to point out we did invite both pruitt and an epa spokesperson and we got no response. reliable sources.com is where you can find up with all the day's leading news. >>> up next on the program, the nfl taking a stand on kneeling, we'll talk about the reactions in the news coverage with dante stallwor stallworth. this car is literally my baby. which is why i use armor all ultra shine wash wipes. they effectively remove dirt, dust and grime with no water. that car is in tip top shape! we are both in tip top shape! armor all, it's easy to look good. (male friend) thanks for the invite! show me the movies. (anna) front row? nobody puts baby in a corner. i'll pre-order what she's having. wax on, wax off. yippee ki yay movielovers. (vo) introducing atom tickets. (anna) was that too much? (vo) download the atom app and get $5 off your first ticket. >>> protest is patriotic. honoring national symbols like the flag is al

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this changes everything. >>> tonight epa administrator scott pruitt holding on to his job. affers close to pruitt quitting the agency. which cost more than $100,000. why is trump keeping pruitt around? tom foreman is out front. >> reporter: evangelicals have been a blessing for trump. scott pruitt is right up front. >> ernestly praying, asking the question, god what do you want to do with me. >> reporter: called him a magnificent christian leader. readily cites god's will. >> the biblical world view respect to these issues is that we have a responsibility to manage and cultivate, harvest the natural resources that we have been blessed with. to truly bless our fell low mankind. >> reporter: but goes far beyond that. there are scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution. fighting the science of climate change and fighting for gun control. >> this judicial monarchy that has it wrong on what the first amendment is about and has an objective to create religious sterility in the public square. >> reporter: appear to be replaying that loyalty by down-playing the growing a

they put scott pruitt in there. world should be 23for donal trump. he's their chief lobbyist. he doesn't need to be lobbied. he's one of them. >> that's also what the people voted for. >> you think the average guy in scranton or waukegan voted for -- >> i think they thought someone was going to change things up and what they got was someone who objectively done things that rich people and business people want. i've talked to some voters who definitely were like we need less regulations because my small business needs to function more freely. >> ken? i think they voted for him for rebuilding america, which i have yet to see. and no stupid wars, certainly there are more coming. >> the fact that as you suggested, there are very wealthy constituencies in the republican party that do care very deeply about slashing environmental regulations is one of the reasons why scott pruitt is still hanging on despite all these scandals. he is delivering on something people in scranton may not care about, but -- >> in an upcoming me

scott pruitt has done what he wants him to do. make the attempt to do this. fact it's tied up in legislation he wouldn't blame on pruitt but on the system. >> that's perhaps. >> keep us posted as you continue to develop into this. >> absolutely. thank you. >>> and looking at live pictures from the nra convention in dallas. the president and vice president are attending and gun rights advocates are told, leave your guns at home. now, on the flight to texas, the president told reporters he has a record crowd for this event and the posters say the ticket counters say tickets are completely solds o lly sold out. joining me, her son was shot and killed sitting in the back seat of the car. and founder of americans for gun safety advocacy group, david french, senior writer for "the national review" and lucy, starty westart y with you. you have your own heartbreaking story. there is the parkland shooting that left 17 people dead. the march four ow live for our. you've been involved in that. people suggest this is a moment when change can happen in the nation's gun law

but on a random wednesday last march, epa administrator scott pruitt disappeared. ling well. he told his staff that he was groggy, he had a headache. the next day he was still feeling crummy so he ducked out early. that's when i kind of just dropped off the face of the earth. quote on march 29th last year scott pruitt vanished for several hours after recording to staff he felt ill. the staff made repeated phone calls that went unanswered. his security detail rushed to his condo owned by the energy lobbyist to make sure he was he was okay. they tried calling him. they tried pounding on the door, thinking he might be unconscious. final and, they just straight up broke down the door. what they found on the other side what a very accused epa administrator waking up from a nap. oops. the epa ended up footing the bill for that expensive nap. they charged taxpayers $2,500 to replace the front door they busted down. this has been by far one of the stranger scott pruitt scandals, for the withstanding the secret phone booth. "the new york times" has filled in the blinks with

why president trump may now be entertaining the idea of firing scott pruitt. stand by, we have new information. but let's begin with the biggest foreign policy decision of the trump presidency so far. about an hour from now, the president announces whether the united states will pull out of the iran nuclear deal. sources say he's expected to announce that he will reinstate sanctions against iran. that would be the first step toward withdrawing from the agreement. but those sources also caution that nothing is final until the announcement by the president is made one hour from now, 2:00 p.m. eastern. cnn's chief white house correspondent jim acosta is joining us live. jim, we know the president spoke with the french president emmanuel macron earlier in the day. macron is trying to persuade him to stay in the iran deal. what are you hearing about that conversation? >> wolf, what we're hearing about that conversation and other conversations is that all indications are at this point that president trump will begin to either fully or partly withdraw the u.s. from i

. >>> another potential scandal swirling around ep achieve scott pruitt. pruitt's longtime friend helped to arrange pruitt's $100,000 trip to morocco back in december. >> the same friend registers a foreign agent for the moroccan government. our renee marsh with more. >> good morning, john and poppy. we are learning that pruitt's trip to morocco was twice as expensive as originally thought and this all according to "the washington post" and back to that lobbyist arranging the trip, and he participated in meetings during the trip including with industry folks. just months after that moroccan trip, the moroccan government hired him to work as a foreign agent and it raises questions about whether he got that job because he successfully organized this trip for scott pruitt. it is very unusual for a lobbyist to be so involved for planning a trip for the head of the federal agency, but i should say there is a lot more news as it relates to scott pruitt. in just the last 24 hours, we learned two key aides abruptly left the agency including the head of his securit

today new evidence that epa chief scott pruitt dined with climate change doubter and accused sexual child abuser and kept it a secret. >>> welcome to "the lead." i'm jim sciutto in for jay. and the white house moments ago going the trumpy an route and refusing to apologize time and time again about a cruel joke a staffer made about john mccain dying of cancer. that is right, a joke about him dying of cancer and refusing to answer if this overall tone comes from the very top. >> we -- there is not a -- a tone set here. we have a -- a respect for all americans. and that is what we try to put forward in everything we do,

a new window into the paranoid world of epa chief scott pruitt.york times" combed through 10,000 documents released as part of a sierra club request. among the findings shows agency officials define perspective guests as friendly or unfriendly and questions presented him written by an epa official. which might seem par for the course with a guy with a $43,000 phone booth who traveled first class for months so he wouldn't be accosted by the regular people in coach. but now scott pruitt's bunker mentality has reached new extremes. according to axios, his chief of staff runs the operations but rarely knows where his boss is. all of us have been frozen out over time one political appointee told axios. everyone is miserable. nobody talks. it's a drywall prison. of course, it's rational to be paranoid when you have a lot you don't want people to know, like what you really did last summer on a $120,000 government-funded trip to rome. that's thing 2 in 60 seconds. >>> tonight, tonight at long last, apparently senior white house staffers are urging preside

instead, the scott pruitt news is moving the ball away from where they want it to be and put them onting under the assumption that they are going to lose the house in november. i spoke with a republican member yesterday who communicated that yesterday. they assume it is going to flip. stories about scott pruitt's travel plans make things more complicated for vulnerable republicans. >> charlie, help me understand why the trump administration is not as worried as republican lawmakers are about scott pruitt's position, about what he's done. are they focused on the mandate they have given him? >> the mystery that you are putting your finger on, why is scott pruitt there when a normal administration of either party, he would have been canned five or six scandals ago. the reason being, of course, anyone else could do what he is doing. his deputy also believes in deregulating and making it easier for corporations to pollute or not be overburdened by burdensome regulations. this white house likes lightning rods. they like someone the left hates. it's a trolling gesture to the center and the

but it does go to show a lot of people are departing the epa, some close to scott pruitt, the other two left this week. now there is a third departure. there is a chance, jim, we could continue to see more of these departures as these scandals continue at the epa. right now the white house is sticking by scott pruitt, waiting to see what the outcome of these investigations are. there is one person sticking by scott pruitt and that is the president. >> it's the only one that matters. kaitlyn collins, thank you very much. >>> more on our breaking news. the president coming clean on the hush agreement with stormy daniels as his lawyer ties it all back to the 2016 election. >>> plus an ominous warning to the president. do not sit down with robert mueller. why an ex-trump aide describes the special counsel has deadly accurate in their investigation. we're going to have details next. guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insura

. >> reporter: jerry brown railed get scott pruitt today.were tossing out an obama administration study of greenhouse gases and instead they will begin yet another study and use it to create you'll efficiency regulations. >> if scott pruitt doesn't get it and if trump doesn't get it, they have to go. >> reporter: scott pruitt told a congressional committee that he wants to work with california on the new fuel efficiency standards. >> i am hopeful and optimistic we will have a decision that will benefit the entire country, take into consideration california, obviously, and achieve good outcome. >> reporter: but he will not be bullied by the state of california. >> we cannot have one state dictating the rest of the country. >> reporter: california has already begun the fight in court and filed a new lawsuit today. >> today we filed a lawsuit in the circuit court of appeals for the district of columbia. >> reporter: the state attorney general said ca

. >>> tonight scott pruitt is the target of 11 investigations and counting.s spending and other actions while in office. she has been reporting on how he managed to keep his job sarah. >> republican supporters of scott pruitt thought he dodged a bullet when he went to capitol hill and held his own answering questions about his ethics but now he has relied on lobbists for policy matters and some of the most controversial and expensive trips in his first year at the epa. >> already facing a dozen different probes relating to allegations of unethical behavior new details are emerging about scott pruitt's expensive international trips. once again his close ties to lob yiss are mixing with official epa business. >> i met with stake holders across the country. people that we regulate that their voices have not been heard for many years. >> his controversial december trip to morocco was arranged by this man. a lobbyist and long time friend of pruitts. now also registered as a foreign agent making $40,000 a month to promote morocco's interests according to a washingt

two of scott pruitt's top aides recently resigned. who were they and the timing of this? s week two of pruitt's top aides are formally leavin the e.p.a. including albert calkelly, one of hs top ai who oversaw the superfund program and the initiative mr. pruitt has been pursuing which he has been very focused on and pas paschal prada, bh top advisors to the administrator, both who weighed in on issues as hiring andtregy. mr. prada was scheduled to meet with hovestigators and has come under great scrutiny for some of tmm redations which led to mr. pruitt's firstl class tr and other activities. and mr. kelly who by all accounthad 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 initially, scott pruitt isd under 1ifferent investigations, and many wondered why he is still in this job, but obviously the president still has full faith in him. many pointed out this isbl probecause he has been so tenacious in undoing present obama's environmental regulations. one has been lowering, appa

which by the way, includes scott pruitt and he's tonight's thing 1 thing 2. very good one next. >>> thing 1 tonight, epa administrator scott pruitt has been involved in so many scandals over the last year and gotten away with all of it so far that we are way past asking the usual questions like whether he's corrupt on if he should get fired. now we're watching in kind of awe wondering how far he can go. it's like watching michael phelps rack up medals except pruitt is competing in the swamp loiks. he got in hot water over an apartment he renned from a lobbyist in d.c. who had business before the epa. now we know he once bought a home with a lobbyist. the grand home was reg r reg zered to a slel company owned by pruitt who was a state senator as well as a lobbyist. "the new york times" reports whitefield was a regular sistered lobbyist who was pushing for changes to the state's worker compensation rules changes that, lo and behold, pruitt championed in the legislature. this is the best part. he's purchasing with a lobbyist. they purchased that house at a steep

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this is actually why scott pruitt is there. remember that.or all the other stuff we're talking about the spending and the security, scott pruitt in his mind, his job is to roll back regulations on the environment. california is one of 18 states as well as district of columbia suing for the recommendation that standards on emissions be revised and likely lowered. auto makers appealed to the trump administration saying the fuel standards for new cars and trucks of 36 miles per gallon by 2025 was too high. to talk more about this, i'm joined by the california attorney general. good to see you. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> let's start with the fact that this is -- i want to be clear -- this is what scott pruitt believes his job is. the epa is a job killing, business killing, profit killing place, and he's said he's there to roll back regulations and that's why donald trump is sticking with him through all the criticisms about him through his misdeeds in office. >> the misdeeds, i think are going to catch up with him, but while he

. >> then, the new scott pruitt scandal involving a cover-up and an accused catholic cardinal. and on the anniversary of his last tough interview -- >> i said to myself. i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. >> how the president has spend a year inside the trump tv bubble. >> joining me now by phone the president of the united states. >> all in starts right now. >> i will say fox ratings are phenomenal. >>> good evening, from new york i'm chris hayes. every single day we learn more about what the members of trump world were up to after winning the election as they moved to take power in washington. and every day we learn that robert mueller is hid ahead of us. abc news reporting today that mueller has been questioning witnesses about millions of dollars given to the president's inauguration from donors with ties to russia, saudi arabia, the united arab emirates and qatar. those donations aren't illegal. they are not regulated the same campaigns are. we don't know why mueller is interested in those. but we do know his team has interviewed

not administrator scott pruitt, outlaw scott pruitt. he is breaking the law, he is flouting the clean air act and the legitimate needs and well- being of the american people.. other states and the district of columbia are joining california in the lawsuit. many have followed california's lead and they represent 40% of the u. s. auto market. >> we assert that the epa has violated the administrative procedures act, which bars arbitrary and capricious decisions. >> in this case, what the states are saying is that the epa made this decision without documenting the evidence to support it. the epa is vulnerable in that respect. >> reporter: this uc berkeley professor says the epa has not yet announced any new regulations, but it could mean years of litigation. that means uncertainty that could help -- hurt automakers. >> automakers are gearing up already for those model years and getting their factories together and their investments. they don't like to see the uncertainty. >> reporter: he says in the short term consumers won't see any big ch

>> the cost of protecting the head of the epa scott pruitt for the past year, $3.5 million. ing to documents that the agency released just this afternoon. pruitt's security costs are far higher and in some cases even double the security costs for administrators in previous eight years. about $2.7 million in salaries we're talking about for that team of 19 agents, and then the agency also on top of that spent more than $750,000 in travel costs for pruitt's security detail, including those overseas trips, as well as trips home to oklahoma, even family vacations to places like disneyland and events like the rose bowl. these newly released numbers contradict this tweet from the president back in april. we have it there on the screen. it says "while security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, scott pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at the epa." but we see now, brooke, that the spending want, quote, somewhat more. it far exceeds his predecessors, this as the administration continues to propose drastic cuts to the agency's budget. i will say

jim, it reads like a playbook for everything that went wrong with scott pruitt. s in order to fly first klaas and used lights to avoid washington, d.c. traffic. the posting suggests this. make protection feel like a perk and eliminate the usual annoyances of travel. pruitt has also come under fire for spending almost 2 million taxpayer dollars to beef up his security team when a whistleblower provided memos showing there weren't posts to back it up and cultivate a healthy pair noy area. we reached out to the epa an former chief of security, but have not yet gotten a response. >> just doesn't stop there. i can tell you from being at the white house there are people inside the white house who are glad that scott pruitt is reliable on issue s like the climate change, but sick of these scandals. have a great weekend for everybody. thanks for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> "outfront" next, trump and giuliani, insisting his new attorney doesn't have his facts g straight. plus a federal judge slamming the mueller spres vest fwags, suggesting its

administrator scott pruitt's almost daily scream of corruption. or o.m.b.'s mick mulvaney caught on tape saying access to him had to be bought. he wasn't even ashamed. even the president's personal attorney, michael cohen, who doesn't work in the white house, was cashing checks in exchange for access and influence into the trump white house. michael cohen's pay to play scheme is a stark reminder of the glaring need to take real action. not just rhetoric, but action, with actual teeth. to bring accountability and transparency to washington. so, the question becomes, what are democrats going to do about it? as leader pelosi mentioned, as my colleagues will detail, the american people deserve a better deal for our democracy and democrats plan to make that happen. you've heard from us since last july about our bold, sharp-edged economic agenda. put simply, real progress can actually -- in actually -- and actually delivering for the hardworking men and women of this country won't come until we're able to finally loosen the vice grip that special interests have ov

senators are going after scott pruitt. this is live. ppearing before the senate for the first time since that cascade of reports of excessive spending by the agency. we want to show you pruitt just moments ago responding to critics on what he's doing to prevent more bad headlines. listen. >> at the house meet, chairman, is instituting a memo for the agency that any expenditure over $5,000 that impacts my official duties has to be approved by the cfo, the deputy and the chief of staff to ensure that all processes are being checked and proper controls are in place. some of the criticism is unfounded, and i think exaggerated. i think it feeds this division that we've seen around very important issues affecting the environment. we can achieve both good environmental outcomes and pro growth policies. >> that's scott pruitt a couple of minutes ago in the capital. also there is ryan costello. congressman, thank you for joining us. you were one of the people who questioned scott pruitt over when he was on the house side just recently. you have c

plus scott pruitt becoming a fixture in thing one and thing two, next. >>> thing one tonight, scott pruitthe mary lou retton has travel expenses that are legendary thanks to his flying first class from the interactions that could sometimes happen in coach. >> issues that arise in travel and there have been instances unfortunately during my time as administrator as i spent time -- of interaction not been the best. >> the official reason he gave for flying first class everywhere is the same reason he has for 24 hour secret -- security detail and approaching $3 million according to an epa official, including a 20-member full time detail more than three times the size of his predecessor and the justification is what the epa spokesperson called an unprecedented number of threats again scott pruitt. now, no one, absolutely no one would bee -- be grudge a credible threat. but is that the case? that is thing two in 60 seconds. and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough, it may be time for a change. ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and cr

the governor did not pull any punches as he expressed his anger with scott pruitt.ea climate change is not a joke. the fires, the floods, the mudslides, the rising sea levels, the disease factors, the migrations, the turmoil that will come about, this is real stuff. if scott pruitt doesn't get it and trump doesn't get it, they have to go. >> the states are saying the epa made this decision without documenting the evidence to support it. i think the epa is vulnerable in that respect. >> scott pruitt says the roles could greatly increase the cost of cars and trucks for consumers. >>> speeding up the rebuilding process in those areas affected by the north bay wildfires. what one city is doing that could give dozens of housing projects the green light. >>> did you see stefan curry? how the warriors star helped push the team to a big win last night. >>> the problems on interstate 80 have led to more traffic on 680. now there is a crash there, too. 80 and 680 in contra costa county are taking it on the chin. we will bring you the latest coming up. >>> if you want to go ou