Despite Scandals, Observers See Little Chance Of Pruitt's Ouster At EPA

摘要

Former EPA officials and others say there is little possibility that Administrator Scott Pruitt's array of ethics and spending scandals will be enough to turn the GOP against him absent a damning investigators' report, but instead see greater odds for Pruitt to leave the agency voluntarily as soon as the end of the year, likely to run for office. "Absent some new revelation, he's pretty safe until some of the investigations start cither leaking or reporting out their results.... It doesn't seem that any of the embarrassment he's causing is affecting Trump," says one former official. Rather, that official and other sources say that if Pruitt departs at all it will probably be on his own terms, especially given the long-standing expectation that plans to run for the Senate should Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) retire, or for some other elected office.