EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Sought to Oust Attorney General Jeff Sessions for His Personal Gain

Wow. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is a real character. And it’s not like he’s not dogged by a monumental amount of scandal, as it is.

Pruitt is stewing in the heat of around 14 separate probes, with the latest mess involving news of secret calendars and schedules, to avoid releasing all schedules publicly. That’s a no-no. It strays into the territory of violating federal law.

Another report about Pruitt is that he asked staffers to book hotel rooms for him, using their own credit cards.

In at least one of those instances, he didn’t reimburse the staffer before the reimbursement period was over, sticking the staffer with a $600 bill.

With Pruitt, it apparently just keeps getting better.

Earlier Tuesday, reports slipped out that this past spring, Pruitt went directly to President Trump, various scandals trailing behind him, and asked that Attorney General Jeff Sessions be fired and that the job be given to him.

According to three sources with knowledge of the request, Pruitt wanted to replace Sessions for 210 days, under something called the Vacancies Reform Act. At the end of the 210 days, his plan was to return to his home state of Oklahoma and run for office.

That’s nerve.

Advisers quickly shot down the proposal, but it came at a time when Trump’s frustration with Sessions over his decision to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation had resurfaced. Trump has complained loudly and publicly about the recusal for the last 14 months, and floated replacing Sessions with Pruitt as recently as April.

The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 gives the President the authority to temporarily fill a vacancy at a federal agency if the official “dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of the office.”

The amount of sleaze going on in this administration is something else.

A spokesman for the EPA said the agency “will not be commenting on anonymous sources who are working to distract Americans from the Trump Administration’s accomplishments on regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship.”

During a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley called the numerous reports about Pruitt “troublesome” and said the President was concerned about them.

Concerned?

The president doesn’t seem overly concerned, given the man may out-scandal Trump, before this is over.

Then again, there might be a reason he keeps the guy around, when others in the administration, with far less baggage have been quickly dispatched and sent on their way.

“I’m not happy about certain things, I’ll be honest,” Trump told reporters on the North Lawn of the White House. “I’m not happy about certain things. But he’s done a fantastic job running the EPA, which is very overriding. But I am not happy about it.”

Has he done well enough to make up for all the bad press and the mounting questions of ethics?

White House officials continue to be perplexed by Pruitt’s good standing with the President. While Trump has privately acknowledged that the EPA chief has created a slew of bad headlines, there is no plan to dismiss Pruitt right now, according to several sources inside the White House.

And the swamp just keeps getting swampier.