Outgoing Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was forced out of the job, contradicting a statement President Trump made to reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday that he chose to resign on his own accord, according to a report published Friday evening.
White House chief of staff John Kelly gave Pruitt an ultimatum on behalf of Trump, who made the decision to get rid of the embattled EPA administrator following reports that he had amended his public schedule to keep some meetings from being public knowledge, Bloomberg reported.
Pruitt had not wanted to quit and was taken off guard by Kelly’s phone call, which came just 24 hours after he joined other Cabinet members at the White House to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Trump said on Thursday that Pruitt made his own decision to leave office. More than 12 federal probes had been opened into his actions while in office, including the scheduling changes, which may be a violation of the Federal Records Act.
“We’ve been talking about it for a little while. Scott is a terrific guy. And he came to me and he said I have such great confidence in the administration. I don’t want to be a distraction. And I think Scott felt that he was a distraction. He’ll go on to great things, and he’s going to have a wonderful life, I hope,” Trump had told reporters after tweeting the announcement earlier Thursday. “But he felt that he did not want to be a distraction for an administration that he has a lot of faith in.”
