Thread: Report: Trump Discussed Replacing Jeff Sessions With Scott Pruitt — This Week

Report: Trump Discussed Replacing Jeff Sessions With Scott Pruitt — This Week

ALLAHPUNDITPosted at 8:01 pm on April 5, 2018





Rumors have swirled since January that Pruitt might replace Sessions under the Vacancies Reform Act. (That’s the law that lets the president lateral a Senate-confirmed appointee into a vacant position requiring Senate confirmation at another agency, albeit only temporarily.) Some Sessions allies have grumbled to reporters that it’s Pruitt himself who started the rumor, to plant the seed in the president’s mind.

SEE ALSO: WSJ: Kelly told Trump Pruitt has to go

Surely, though, surely POTUS has placed that idea on the back-burner now that Pruitt’s being avalanched with bad press, including and especially on Fox News.

Or has he?

President Donald Trump floated replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt as recently as this week, even as the scandal-ridden head of the Environmental Protection Agency has faced a growing list of negative headlines, according to people close to the President.

“He was 100% still trying to protect Pruitt because Pruitt is his fill-in for Sessions,” one source familiar with Trump’s thinking told CNN
…
Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly has not matched the President’s confidence in Pruitt, according to a source familiar with his thinking. He has advocated for firing him before the headlines get worse.

In any other administration, Pruitt’s stock would have been badly damaged by all the ethics questions raised over his condo deal and the dubious raises granted to two top EPA aides despite White House opposition. In Trump’s administration, his stock may have risen. Kelly wants Pruitt out because he’s viewing this as a matter of conventional politics: When a department head keeps delivering bad press, you find yourself another department head. That’s what they did with Tom Price at HHS and David Shulkin at the VA, right? But Pruitt’s position is different. He’s leading a traditionally left-wing agency that’s embroiled in the left-right culture war over climate change; he’s under attack by the media from all sides and has chosen to confront them in interviews rather than run, which Trump probably admires; he’s dutifully carried out Trump’s agenda at the EPA despite massive criticism from the press and the left, proving his loyalty; and he is in fact qualified as a former state AG to replace Sessions if Trump wants to go that route.

The reason I say his stock might have risen is because the weaker he gets from scandal, the more he owes to Trump for continuing to stand by him. If you were in the market for an Attorney General who might follow orders to fire Bob Mueller and shut down the Russiagate probe, who better than a guy who’s demonstrated that he doesn’t care what his critics think and is eternally grateful to Trump for not only not firing him but elevating him to the very top of the Justice Department? He’s the perfect man to go to war with Trump in a constitutional crisis over Mueller’s termination. Per CNN, Trump’s aides have reportedly been warning him away from firing Sessions by reminding him that the AG is popular on the right, but that’s nonsense. No one is popular on the right anymore unless they’re popular with Trump. Ask Steve Bannon. If Trump dropped the axe on Sessions, Fox News would go into overdrive attacking Sessions for his “weakness” in recusing himself on the Russia probe. And to the extent Sessions would be missed because he’s a true blue border hawk, no worries: Pruitt would be as much of a border hawk as the president wanted him to be as well.

So long as Pruitt is nominally on thin ice, though, his enemies are going to keep knifing him. And he has lots of them, as I noted the other day — Kelly, Team Sessions, and an ocean of green bureaucrats at the EPA who hate him for deregulating. The NYT just clubbed him with another lengthy ethics scoop late this afternoon citing “people who worked for or with the E.P.A. and have direct knowledge of the situation”:

At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management of the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.

The concerns included unusually large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, as well as certain demands by Mr. Pruitt for security coverage, such as requests for a bulletproof vehicle and an expanded 20-person protective detail, according to people who worked for or with the E.P.A. and have direct knowledge of the situation…
[One] political appointee, Kevin Chmielewski, was placed on administrative leave without pay, according to two of the people with knowledge of the situation. Mr. Chmielewski was among the first employees of Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, serving as a senior advance official. The two people, who are administration officials, said that Mr. Chmielewski flagged some of his concerns about Mr. Pruitt directly to the White House’s presidential personnel office.

Chmielewski is an important figure in the story because he’s not a liberal careerist at the EPA who was looking for an excuse to kneecap Pruitt. He’s an original Team Trump guy and he was allegedly punished by Pruitt for complaining that his spending habits were too swamp-y. A sixth official who complained about Pruitt’s spending and is now reportedly considering resigning came over to the EPA from Jim Inhofe’s office. These aren’t all Democratic hacks. Some of the proposed expenses flagged in the piece were for security upgrades that may seem excessive (a bulletproof desk and limo, a huge security detail) but which Pruitt might conceivably defend as necessary given his status as a hate object on the left. Some, though, seem petty and mainly about status-signaling: “Mr. Pruitt, who often ran late, wanted to use [flashing] lights and sirens [in his motorcade] to expedite local trips in Washington to the airport or to dinner, including at least one trip to Le Diplomate, a trendy French restaurant that he frequented.”
The question for Trump is simple: Will anyone who doesn’t already despise him and Pruitt care about this? Which swing voters who stuck with Trump through various news stories about Kushner’s financial issues and the Trump Hotel in D.C. making bank from foreign diplomats are going to bail now because Scott “Who?” Pruitt wanted to travel first-class? Kelly wants Pruitt out, I think, as a matter of very basic prudence, fearing that someone who’s generated this much agitaalready will surely generate more if he stays on. But Trump loves agita! It keeps things interesting. And Pruitt will be his boy if the president protects him. I don’t think he’s going anywhere, except maybe to the DOJ.

The Lead CNN
✔@TheLeadCNN

BREAKING: President Trump floated replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with EPA head Scott Pruitt as recently as this week https://cnn.it/2JnRuH4
4:05 PM - Apr 5, 2018

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https://hotair.com/archives/2018/04/...tm_campaign=nl

Replacing AG Jeff Sessions would be a huge mistake (IMO). It's beyond me why Trump is so obsessed with the Mueller collusion investigation. In regards to the immigration issues we're facing, Session is doing a lot of great things and is working on more. Why in the world would Trump be so stupid as to interrupt that for the sake of his huge ego? If Trump himself has nothing to fear, why not just let the collusion investigation wind down and get on with the business of being President of the United States? Is he concerned for some of his friends or a relative like Jared Kushner?

We know exactly where Sessions stand on border security and illegal immigration. Being a 'yes' man like Scott Pruitt doesn't necessarily mean your the best man!

Updated 8:12 AM; Posted 8:00 AM

By Leada Gore
President Donald Trump dismissed the idea he's planning to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions with EPA chief Scott Pruitt, saying the reports are nothing more than "fake news."

In a Friday tweet, the president said while Pruitt was doing a "great job" he was not in line to replace Sessions, the former Alabama Senator turned AG who has found himself on the receiving end of Trump's wrath.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!
7:46 AM - Apr 6, 2018

Reports surfaced this week that Trump was considering Pruitt to replace Sessions, even though the EPA chief has found himself mired in a host of controversies, including a deal to rent a room in a home owned by the family of an energy lobbyist.

When asked this week if he still supported Pruitt, Trump replied "I do."

"No. No. Scott's doing a great job where he is," Trump later added.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/201...s_hes_rep.html

'Fake news:' Trump denies he's replacing AG Jeff Sessions with EPA chief Scott Pruitt

I certainly hope this is 'fake news' but it's hard to know who to believe these days. Honestly, even if it were true, I wouldn't expect Trump to admit it. Just saying ......

It’s Objectively an Easter Miracle That Scott Pruitt Hasn’t Been Fired Yet

By Ben Mathis-Lilley
April 06, 201811:41 AM


Scott Pruitt at the White House on Feb. 12.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

On Thursday, Slate published a list compiled by Mother Jones of ongoing scandals involving Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt. Meanwhile, New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait did a Thursday afternoon post about Pruitt scandal developments that broke just on Thursday. Here’s a list of all of them combined, plus a bonus scandal involving a “fitness model.”
1. Pruitt lived in a lobbyist’s fancy condo on what seem to have been very friendly terms—paying only $50 a night, and not being required to pay for nights in which he didn’t sleep in D.C.—that seemingly would not have been available to a member of the general public seeking to rent space in a prime location. He also claimed erroneously that the lobbyist in question did not have business before the EPA.
2. He hired a banker who’s been banned from the banking industry for life by the federal government to help run the federal government’s Superfund program.
3. He gave large raises to two of his aides even after the White House rejected his initial request to do so.
4. He spent $43,000 in public funds to install a soundproof phone booth in his office, a feature which no previous EPA administrator has needed, and has spent other public funds on seemingly unnecessary luxury travel accommodations and unprecedented around-the-clock personal security. He reportedly replaced one of his security officials when the official refused to turn on his car’s emergency sirens in order to cut through routine traffic and demoted several other officials who challenged his extravagant use of public funds. (The New York Times story about the demotions reports that two of the officials involved were also subjected to internal inspector-general investigations on charges that were ultimately determined to be baseless. Hmm.)
5. He erroneously claimed at his confirmation hearing to have never used a personal email account for public business.
6. He’s openly collaborated with industry groups to encourage their lobbying against federal environmental regulations, which may violate ethics rules given that it’s his job to manage federal environmental regulations.
Slate and Chait both missed another great Pruitt story from Thursday, too, which was Salon’s report that Pruitt bought an Oklahoma property in 2011 just days before a court ruled that it had been fraudulently transferred to a “fitness model” named Pamela Rex by her boyfriend, a developer who disappeared after defaulting on a $3.6 million loan. After buying the property from Ms. Rex, Pruitt sold it within months to one of his top donors for a $70,000 profit. Hmm.
That’s at least seven separate scandals, two of which—the sweetheart rental deal and the extravagant spending/retaliation against critics—are seemingly as big or bigger than other scandals that have precipitated Cabinet resignations and firings even in the Trump administration. For his part, Pruitt’s boss tweeted Friday morning that Pruitt is doing “a great job” despite being “under siege.” The siege reference seems to fit with what informed White House observers have been saying about Pruitt’s strategy for defending himself within the administration, which is to portray his situation as the result of a left/media attack rather than, like, the result of repeated, disgraceful personal and professional failures. Fun times! Fun times.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...ndal-list.html

AP Sources: EPA Chief Spent Millions on Security and Travel

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSAPRIL 6, 2018, 11:03 P.M. E.D.T.

WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt's concern with his safety came at a steep cost to taxpayers as his swollen security detail blew through overtime budgets and at times diverted officers away from investigating environmental crimes.

Altogether, the agency spent millions of dollars for a 20-member full-time detail that is more than three times the size of his predecessor's part-time security contingent.

New details in Pruitt's expansive spending for security and travel emerged from agency sources and documents reviewed by The Associated Press. They come as the embattled EPA leader fends off allegations of profligate spending and ethical missteps that have imperiled his job.

Shortly after arriving in Washington, Pruitt demoted the career staff member heading his security detail and replaced him with EPA Senior Special Agent Pasquale "Nino" Perrotta, a former Secret Service agent who operates a private security company.

An EPA official with direct knowledge of Pruitt's security spending says Perrotta oversaw a rapid expansion of the EPA chief's security detail to accommodate guarding him day and night, even on family vacations and when Pruitt was home in Oklahoma. The EPA official spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Perrotta also signed off on new procedures that let Pruitt fly first-class on commercial airliners, with the security chief typically sitting next to him with other security staff farther back in the plane. Pruitt's premium status gave him and his security chief access to VIP airport lounges.

The EPA official said there are legitimate concerns about Pruitt's safety, given public opposition to his rollbacks of anti-pollution measures.

But Pruitt's ambitious domestic and international travel led to rapidly escalating costs, with the security detail racking up so much overtime that many hit annual salary caps of about $160,000. The demands of providing 24-hour coverage even meant taking some investigators away from field work, such as when Pruitt traveled to California for a family vacation.

The EPA official said total security costs approached $3 million when pay is added to travel expenses.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said late Friday that Pruitt has faced an "unprecedented" amount of death threats against him and his family.

"Americans should all agree that members of the President's cabinet should be kept safe from these violent threats," Wilcox said.

A nationwide search of state and federal court records by AP found no case where anyone has been arrested or charged with threatening Pruitt. EPA's press office did not respond Friday to provide details of any specific threats or arrests.

Pruitt has said his use of first-class airfare was initiated following unpleasant interactions with other travelers. In one incident, someone yelled a profanity as he walked through the airport.

The EPA administrator has come under intense scrutiny for ethics issues and outsized spending. Among the concerns: massive raises for two of closest aides and his rental of a Capitol Hill condo tied to a lobbyist who represents fossil fuel clients.

At least three congressional Republicans and a chorus of Democrats have called for Pruitt's ouster. But President Donald Trump is so far standing by him.

A review of Pruitt's ethical conduct by White House officials is underway, adding to probes by congressional oversight committees and EPA's inspector general.

Pruitt, 49, was closely aligned with the oil and gas industry as Oklahoma's state attorney general before being tapped by Trump. Trump has praised Pruitt's relentless efforts to scrap, delay or rewrite Obama-era environmental regulations. He also has championed budget cuts and staff reductions at the agency so deep that even Republican budget hawks in Congress refused to implement them.

EPA's press office has refused to disclose the cost of Pruitt's security or the size of his protective detail, saying doing so could imperil his personal safety.

But other sources within EPA and documents released through public information requests help provide a window into the ballooning costs.

In his first three months in office, before pricey overseas trips to Italy and Morocco, the price tag for Pruitt's security detail hit more than $832,000, according to EPA documents released through a public information request.

Nearly three dozen EPA security and law enforcement agents were assigned to Pruitt, according to a summary of six weeks of weekly schedules obtained by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

Those schedules show multiple EPA security agents accompanied Pruitt on a family vacation to California that featured a day at Disneyland and a New Year's Day football game where his home state Oklahoma Sooners were playing in the Rose Bowl. Multiple agents also accompanied Pruitt to a baseball game at the University of Kentucky and at his house outside Tulsa, during which no official EPA events were scheduled.

On weekend trips home for Sooners football games, when taxpayers weren't paying for his ticket, the EPA official said Pruitt flew coach. He sometimes used a companion pass obtained with frequent flyer miles accumulated by Ken Wagner, a former law partner whom Pruitt hired as a senior adviser at EPA at a salary of more than $172,000.
Taxpayers still covered the airfare for the administrator's security detail.

Pruitt's predecessor, Gina McCarthy, had a security detail that numbered about a half dozen, less than a third the size of Pruitt's. She flew coach and was not accompanied by security during her off hours, like on weekend trips home to Boston.

Pruitt was accompanied by nine aides and a security detail during a trip to Italy in June that cost more than $120,000. He visited the U.S. Embassy in Rome and took a private tour of the Vatican before briefly attending a meeting of G-7 environmental ministers in Bologna.

Private Italian security guards hired by Perrotta helped arrange an expansive motorcade for Pruitt and his entourage, according to the EPA official with direct knowledge of the trip. The source described the Italian additions as personal friends of Perrotta, who joined Pruitt and his EPA staff for an hours-long dinner at an upscale restaurant.

Perrotta's biography, on the website of his company, Sequoia Security Group, says that during his earlier stint with the Secret Service he worked with the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian finance police.

The EPA spent nearly $9,000 last year on increased counter-surveillance precautions for Pruitt, including hiring a private contractor to sweep his office for hidden listening devices and installing sophisticated biometric locks for the doors. The payment for the bug sweep went to a vice president at Perrotta's security company.
The EPA official who spoke to AP said Perrotta also arranged the installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth for Pruitt's office.

At least five EPA officials were placed on leave, reassigned or demoted after pushing back against spending requests such as a $100,000-a-month private jet membership, a bulletproof vehicle and $70,000 for furniture such as a bulletproof desk for the armed security officer always stationed inside the administrator's office suite.

Those purchases were not approved. But Pruitt got an ornate refurbished desk comparable in grandeur to the one in the Oval Office.

Among the officials who faced consequences for resisting such spending was EPA Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Kevin Chmielewski, a former Trump campaign staffer who was placed on unpaid administrative leave this year.

The prior head of Pruitt's security detail, Eric Weese, was demoted last year after he refused Pruitt's demand to use the lights and sirens on his government-owned SUV to get him through Washington traffic to the airport and dinner reservations.

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/201...-security.html

I have no problem at all with any member of the US Cabinet flying first class, because it's safer, faster and more private. I also have no problem with adequate security for our Cabinet Members.

Why does the left resent good travel and security arrangements for our own dignitaries?!

Originally Posted by Judy

I have no problem at all with any member of the US Cabinet flying first class, because it's safer, faster and more private. I also have no problem with adequate security for our Cabinet Members.

Why does the left resent good travel and security arrangements for our own dignitaries?!

How is flying first class safer and faster? We're talking about public servants, not royalty. As for security, there is adequate and there is excessive. Public servants should always strive to be good stewards of taxpayer funds.

Trump has the wealthiest Cabinet in modern U.S. History. If they want to upgrade their plane ticket, ride in a bullet proof limousine, talk in a private phone booth, take their wife on vacation, travel on personal business, upgrade their china dining set, let them do so at their own expense. The American taxpayer should only be on the hook for what they actually need, not what they want!

I agree with MW...if they want to pay out of pocket to upgrade their flight then they should pay for that above the cost of Coach.

Taxpayers should not foot the bill for their wives or family members to travel on business. Give them a Per Diem like any other company, any more expenses than that...it's on them. It's not a family vacation on the backs of US taxpayers. Obama's took advantage of this and costs us millions of dollars.

Flying first class isn't "royalty", it's as common as goose poop. It's safer because you're usually not surrounded by crazy people. It's faster to board and de-board for busy schedules. It's more private because there's less seats and they're larger, spaced further apart so you have more privacy to work on computers, read papers, and attend to important government business while you're in flight. It's the same reason high level business executives fly first class.

The hate factor against this President and his Cabinet raise a whole new level of safety and security concerns for this Administration.