Trump Announces EPA Chief Scott Pruitt's Resignation

Washington D. C. [USA], July 06 (ANI): United States (US) President Donald Trump announced the resignation of controversial Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt, with his Deputy, Andrew Wheeler slated to take over temporarily.

Taking to his Twitter handle, Trump said that he had accepted Pruitt's resignation and thanked him for his "outstanding job" as EPA Administrator.

"I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will...," he said in the first of his tweet.

"...on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA. I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!" he added in the second.

According to CNN, Pruitt cited the "the unrelenting attacks" on himself and his family for the various ethics scandals he's been criticised for, saying that the public outburst "have taken a sizable toll" on himself and all his family members.

Pruitt is facing at least 14 federal investigations.

A woman had recently confronted Pruitt at a Washington D. C. restaurant and asked him to resign over his environmental policies.

She cited Pruitt's "slashing strong fuel standards for cars and trucks for the benefits of big corporations" and his "paying about 50 bucks a night to stay in a DC condo that's connected to an energy lobbying firm while approving their dirty sands pipeline" as reasons for him to resign.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Pruitt had approached President Trump to fire the incumbent Attorney General, Jeff Sessions so that he could run for the position.

CNN reported that Pruitt asked Trump to temporarily replace Sessions with himself as the head of the Department of Justice for 210 days under the Vacancies Reform Act, saying that he would run for the office thereafter.

However, Pruitt, in a statement, denied the reports.

"This report is simply false. General Sessions and I are friends and I have always said I want nothing more than to see him succeed in his role," the statement said.

It was also revealed on Monday that Pruitt and his aides kept 'secret' calendars and schedules and would discuss which meetings to exclude from their publicly released calendars, according to a former EPA official.

Despite all these allegations, Trump's faith in Pruitt remains steadfast, and in June, he stated that Pruitt was doing a "fantastic job." (ANI)

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