Rachel Maddow didn’t just highlight Scott Pruitt’s corruption. She showed why Trump’s EPA administrator belongs in prison.
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Rachel Maddow didn’t just highlight Scott Pruitt’s corruption. She showed why Trump’s EPA administrator belongs in prison. https://t.co/o2c63fUWA6 pic.twitter.com/SQduOZx0Us
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) June 6, 2018
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Maddow said, “It is against the law for a public official to use his or her job or the staff that support that job for the private gain of that public official. Use of public office for private gain section 2635.702. An employee shall not use his public office for private gain or gain of friends, relatives — relatives — or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity. That’s illegal. Even if this was — this is Scott Pruitt trying to get his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise, right? Even if this had been Scott Pruitt sending this EPA staffer out to get his wife a Chick-fil-A sandwich, that itself would be illegal under federal law because in addition to not being allowed to use your public office for private gain, you also cannot have federal employees do personal favors for a public official and his or her family. There have been large public scandals in other presidencies for behavior that was not nearly this blatant or this unassailably proven.”
Pruitt has dozens of scandals to his name, so the first reaction of many people when they found out that he broke numerous laws by trying to use his position as EPA administrator to get his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise was of course, he did, but we can’t allow ourselves to become numb to the tidal wave of corruption and abuse of power that is the Trump administration.
The Scott Pruitt problem begins with Donald Trump and the Republican Party. It is Trump who picked Pruitt to lead the EPA. It is the Republican-led Senate who confirmed him, along with red-state Democrats, Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp, who both have to live with the fact that they voted in favor of a man who belongs in prison to head up the EPA. It is the Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate who are turning a blind eye to Pruitt’s criminal activity, and it is the President Of The United States who refuses to fire him.
As Rachel Maddow pointed out lesser people have gotten into greater trouble for smaller misdeeds in previous administrations, but it will take a Democratic Congress to get Pruitt out of government and potentially behind bars where he belongs.
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
