WASHINGTON (CN) - Members of a House panel on Thursday assailed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt for the ethics and spending scandals that have prompted bipartisan calls for his ouster.
The public grilling by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the Environment came as support has eroded for Pruitt among fellow Republicans after a nearly month-long hammering of negative headlines about outsized security spending, first-class flights and a sweetheart condo lease.
He will appear before the House Appropriations subcommittee Thursday afternoon.
Though both of the meetings were slated as routine oversight hearings for the EPA’s budget, Pruitt was grilled nonstop by the first of the two House panels.
On the defensive, Pruitt blamed his bad press on "half-truths" and "twisted" allegations were an effort to undermine the Trump administration's anti-regulatory agenda.
“I, more than anyone, want to establish hard facts. I have nothing to hide, I am not afraid to admit there has been a learning process. When Congress finds fault in our decision making, I want to correct that,” Pruitt said. “As administrator, the responsibility of identifying and making changes rests with me and no one else. Facts are facts and fiction is fiction.”
The stories about him he said, were “so twisted” they failed to “represent reality.”
Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., and several other Republicans on the committee lauded Pruitt’s performance at the agency and agreed that reports of misconduct were a tool of distraction.
Democratic Rep. Paul Tonko of New York and Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey spoke bluntly to the administrator as they pushed him for answers on raises given to his aide Sarah Greenwalt.
Though Pruitt told the committee he alone was responsible for the final decisions at the agency; when it came to raises, the administrator claimed he was unaware of the amount given to Greenwalt.
The decision to increase her pay was the result “delegation to an aide,” he explained.
This was clarified in the Inspector General report on the salary increases for his aides, he noted.
Pruitt also denied misconduct against employees who have accused him of retaliation after questioning his spending habits.
“Has it always been your practice to fire people who disagree with you?” Rep. Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey, asked.
Pruitt denied the allegation, saying he couldn’t recall a conversation with an employee that would warrant the accusation.
Rep. Pallone also made a direct call for Pruitt’s removal saying the “level of secrecy, conflicts of interest and scandal at the EPA” rendered the former Oklahoma attorney general ill-equipped for the job.
“You are unfit to hold public office and undeserving of the public trust. I don't say this because I particularly dislike you or hold you in ill repute but every indication we have is you really should resign and you are undeserving of the public trust,” Rep. Pallone said.
As of Thursday, 140 House Democrats have signed a resolution expressing “no confidence” in Pruitt. Only four Republican House members have joined the call.
The gallery of guests at the hearing included a handful of protestors donning green shirts with “Impeach Pruitt” emblazoned across the chest.
A few stood behind the administrator as he testified but were asked to remain quiet or face removal. Other protestors carrying posters that said “Mr. Corruption” also sat behind Pruitt as he testified.
