Donald Trumps Embattled Environment Chief Resigns

Scott Pruitt has quit after a series of scandals. Picture: AFPSource:AFPSCOTT Pruitts controversial reign as head of the US Environmental Protection Agency has come to an end, with the latest scandal involving allegations he attempted to hide meetings with Australias Cardinal George Pell at the Vatican. The New York Times and CNN, quoting former EPA staff, reported on Thursday Mr Pruitts aides retroactively deleted meetings from his public schedule in what could be potential violations of the US Federal Records Act.

US President Donald Trump has been under pressure for months to fire Mr Pruitt, who has aggressively eradicated environmental protections while facing a constant wave of scandals and potential ethics violations.Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this, Mr Trump, announcing Mr Pruitts resignation in a tweet on Thursday, wrote.Mr Pruitts former deputy chief of staff for operations Kevin Chmielewski told CNN EPA staffers routinely met in Mr Pruitts office to scrub, alter or remove records from his official calendar.

Mr Pruitts meetings and a dinner with Cardinal Pell in Italy in June last year did not appear on Mr Pruitts official calendar.All of our time at the Vatican was spent with Cardinal Pell, Chmielewski told CNN.Cardinal Pell was basically our host.

I mean, that was who we were going to meet with.Cardinal George Pell, pictured leaving County Court in Melbourne in May. Picture: David Geraghty / The Australian.

Source:News Corp AustraliaMr Pruitts trip to Italy cost US taxpayers a reported $US120,000. The New York Times published a new report shortly before Mr Pruitts resignation on Thursday alleging how one of his senior schedulers, Madeline G Morris, was fired after questioning the practice of retroactively deleting meetings from the calendar, including from the Rome trip.In another controversy earlier this year, federal records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act exposed emails detailing how a Washington-based consultant and former lobbyist helped arrange Mr Pruitts planned August, 2017 trip to Australia.

The trip did not go ahead because Hurricane Harvey struck Texas. The proposed itinerary included potential meetings with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a visit to Uluru and a Bondi Beach walk.Michael Brune, executive director of environmental group Sierra Club, said the emails expose the fact that corporate lobbyists are orchestrating Pruitts taxpayer-funded trips to push their dangerous agendas.

PRUITT DOGGED BY SCANDALSWith Pruitts departure, President Donald Trump loses an administrator many conservatives regarded as one of the more effective members of his Cabinet. But Pruitt had also been dogged for months by a seemingly unending string of scandals that spawned more than a dozen federal and congressional investigations.In a resignation letter released to media outlets, Pruitt expressed no regret for any actions he had taken since being tapped by Trump to lead EPA last year.

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, Pruitt wrote.Scott Pruitt was at the White House for July 4 celebrations, a day before he resigned. Picture: APSource:APHowever, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizeable toll on all of us.

Pruitt had appeared at a White House picnic for Independence Day, wearing a red-checked shirt and loafers with gold trim. Trump gave him and other officials a brief shout-out, offering no sign of any immediate change in his job.Trump said in a tweet that Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry executive, will assume the acting administrator position on Monday.

Pruitts resignation came days after two of his former senior staffers spoke to House oversight committee investigators and revealed new, embarrassing details in ethics allegations against Pruitt.Samantha Dravis, Pruitts former policy chief at EPA, told the investigators last week that Pruitt had made clear to her before and after he became EPA administrator that he would like the Attorney-Generals job, held then and now by Jeff Sessions.Pruitt had hinted at that (sic) some sort of conversation had taken place between he and the president, Dravis told congressional investigators, according to a transcript obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

That was the position he was originally interested in.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt walks during an Independence Day picnic for military families on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC Picture: AFPSource:AFPTHE WORST EPA CHIEF IN HISTORYAformer Oklahoma Attorney-General close to the oil and gas industry, Pruitt had filed more than a dozen lawsuits against the agency he was picked to lead. Arriving in Washington, he worked relentlessly to dismantle Obama-era environmental regulations that aimed to reduce toxic pollution and planet-warming carbon emissions.

During his one-year tenure, Pruitt crisscrossed the country at taxpayer expense to speak with industry groups and hobnob with GOP donors, but he showed little interest in listening to advocates he derided as the environmental left.Those groups applauded his departure.Despite his brief tenure, Pruitt was the worst EPA chief in history, said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity.

His corruption was his downfall, but his pro-polluter policies will have our kids breathing dirtier air long after his many scandals are forgotten.In this April 26, 2018 file photo, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt listens to questions as he testifies before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill. Picture: APSource:APLike Trump, Pruitt voiced scepticism about mainstream climate science and was a fierce critic of the Paris climate agreement.

The president cheered his EPA chiefs moves to boost fossil fuel production and roll back regulations opposed by corporate interests.But despite boasts of slashing red tape and promoting job creation, Pruitt had a mixed record of producing real-world results. Many of the EPA regulations Pruitt scrapped or delayed had not yet taken effect, and the tens of thousands of lost coal mining jobs the president pledged to bring back never materialised.

Pruitt was forced out following a series of revelations involving pricey trips with first-class airline seats and unusual security spending, including a $43,000 soundproof booth for making private phone calls. He also demanded 24-hour-a-day protection from armed officers, resulting in a swollen 20-member security detail that blew through overtime budgets and racked up expenses of more than $3 million.Pruitt also had ordered his EPA staff to do personal chores for him, picking up dry cleaning and trying to obtain a used Trump hotel mattress for his apartment.

He had also enlisted his staff to contact conservative groups and companies to find a lucrative job for his unemployed wife, including emails seeking a Chick-fil-A franchise from a senior executive at the fast-food chain.US President Donald Trump speaks before signing the Energy Independence Executive Order at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Headquarters in Washington, DC, on March 28, 2017, withEnvironmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. Picture: AFPSource:AFPPruitts job had been in jeopardy since the end of March, when ABC News first reported that he leased a Capitol Hill condo last year for just $50 a night.

It was co-owned by the wife of a veteran fossil fuels lobbyist whose firm had sought regulatory rollbacks from the EPA.Both Pruitt and the lobbyist, Steven Hart, denied he had conducted any recent business with EPA. But Hart was later forced to admit he had met with Pruitt at EPA headquarters last summer after his firm, Williams & Jensen, revealed he had lobbied the agency on a required federal disclosure form.

Pruitt also publicly denied any knowledge of massive raises awarded to two close aides he had brought with him to EPA from Oklahoma. Documents later showed Pruitts chief of staff had signed off on the pay hikes, indicating he had the administrators consent.Pruitt is the latest Trump Cabinet official to lose his job over ethics issues.

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was fired in March amid questionable travel charges and a growing rebellion in his agency about the privatisation of medical care. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was fired last year after it was disclosed he took costly charter flights instead of commercial planes.Mr.

Pruitts brazen abuse of his position for his own personal gain has been absolutely astounding, rivalled only by the silence of far too many in Congress and in the White House who allowed Mr. Pruitts unethical, and, at times, possibly illegal behaviour to go unchecked, said Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, long a vocal critic of Pruitts.

History will not look kindly on this era: neither on Mr. Pruitts entirely irresponsible tenure nor on Congress abdication of its constitutional responsibilities all in order to protect political allies.President Donald Trump said Scott Pruitt had done an outstanding job.

Picture: APSource:APNOTABLE DEPARTURES:Notable firings and resignations from President Donald Trumps White House since he took office on Jan. 20, 2017. July 5: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt June 5: Communications aide Kelly Sadler April 12: Deputy national security adviser Ricky Waddell April 11: Deputy national security adviser Nadia Schadlow April 10: Homeland security adviser Tom Bossert March 28: Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin March 22: National security adviser H.

R. McMaster March 13: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson March 12: Special assistant and personal aide to the president John McEntee March 6: Economic adviser Gary Cohn Feb. 28: Communications director Hope Hicks Feb.

7: Staff secretary Rob Porter Dec. 13, 2017: Communications director for the White House Office of Public Liaison Omarosa Manigault Newman Dec. 8, 2017: Deputy national security adviser Dina Powell Sept.

29, 2017: Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price Aug. 25, 2017: National security aide Sebastian Gorka Aug. 18, 2017: Chief strategist Steve Bannon July 31, 2017: Communications director Anthony Scaramucci July 28, 2017: Chief of staff Reince Priebus July 21, 2017: Press secretary Sean Spicer May 30, 2017: Communications director Michael Dubke May 9, 2017: FBI Director James Comey March 30, 2017: Deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh Feb.

13, 2017: National security adviser Michael Flynn