Fox News grilled Scott Pruitt over pay raises that two of his friends from Oklahoma were given even though the White House rejected the request. It is clear that even Fox is trying to push Pruitt out the door.
Video of Scott Pruitt being interviewed on Fox News:
Even Fox News is trying to get Trump to fire Scott Pruitt. https://t.co/Yj3E3yjbUR pic.twitter.com/D3vs1rdVTt
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 4, 2018
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Transcript of Ed Henry getting combative with Pruitt:
Ed Henry: If you’re committed to the Trump agenda, why did you go around the president and white house to give pay raises to two staffers?
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt: I did not. My staff did. I found out about that yesterday and changed it. The process should have been respected and I issued a statement walking back those pay raises that should not have been given.
Henry: Is someone going to be fired for that?
Pruitt: There will be accountability.
Henry: Career person or political person?
Pruitt: I don’t know.
Henry: You don’t know who did it?
Pruitt: I found out about this yesterday and I corrected the action. We are in the process of finding out how it took place to correct it.
Henry: Both of these staffers are friends of yours. I believe from Oklahoma, right?
Pruitt: They are staffers here in the agency.
Henry: They’re friends of yours?
Pruitt: They serve a very important person.
Henry: You didn’t know they got these large pay raises?
Pruitt: I didn’t, until yesterday.
Henry: One got a pay raise of $28,000, the other was $56,000. Do you know what the median income in this country is?
Pruitt: No.
Henry: $57,000 a year. One of your friends from Oklahoma got a pay raise —
Pruitt: They did not get a pay raise.
Henry: They did.
Pruitt: They did not. I stopped that yesterday.
Henry: So you stopped it. Are you embarrassed?
Pruitt: It should not have happened. And the officials that were involved in that process should not have done what they did.
Fox News is trying to get Scott Pruitt fired
Fox News wants Pruitt gone, and since they are Trump’s primary source of information, no one should be surprised if Pruitt is gone soon. The only thing that might save Pruitt’s job is that Trump hasn’t fired anyone for corruption. Since Trump is a corrupted president, he does not appear to view acts of corruption by others in his administration as fireable offenses.
If Fox News ended up getting Scott Pruitt fired, it would be a demonstration of the power and control that they have over Trump.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
