Senator James Inhofe on Wednesday said he agrees that EPA chief Scott Pruitt, his longtime friend and fellow Oklahoman, is hurting the president, has shown bad judgment and is making the entire administration look bad.
The GOP lawmaker also suggested Pruitt’s deputy would be an acceptable replacement.
Inhofe, who has close political and personal ties to the embattled EPA administrator, made his remarks to influential conservative media personality Laura Ingraham in a podcast posted on Wednesday. The same day, Ingraham tweeted that Pruitt has got to go following the latest report that he charged a staffer with doing personal tasks for him.
PRUITT BAD JUDGMENT HURTING @POTUS, GOTTA GO: Pruitt had aide, GOP donors help wife find job: report
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Pruitt tasked an aide with contacting Republican donors to find a job for his wife. Since it was revealed in late March that Pruitt rented a Capitol Hill condo linked to an energy lobbyist, he has faced a near constant flow of reports on his spending and management, leading to several new investigations.
During the podcast, Ingraham informed Inhofe that top Republicans told her Pruitt is hurting President Donald Trump‘s standing. She said Pruitt has “bad judgment after bad judgment after bad judgment” and asserted that if Trump wants to drain the swamp, his deputies have to forego personal benefits or else everyone looks bad.
“Let me say this,” said Inhofe, “and it hurts me to say this, but I agree 100 percent with you.”
Asked if Pruitt should step aside, Inhofe said, “I’ve seen these things. They upset me as much as they upset you and I think something needs to happen to change that.”
“One of those alternatives would be for him to leave that job. I would say this, that there’s a guy behind him, Andrew Wheeler, who’s really qualified too. So that might be a good swap,” he said, referring to EPA’s deputy administrator.
Inhofe later told a Daily Beast reporter that he is not calling on Pruitt to resign or for Trump to fire him.
