California Gov. Jerry Brown rebuked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday, dubbing the embattled Trump administration official “outlaw Pruitt.”
Brown made the remark as he, along with other California officials, announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration, and the EPA, for rejecting President Barack Obama’s tough fuel efficiency rules.
Brown, California’s long-time Democratic leader who is retiring, criticized Pruitt in personal terms for “attacking science.”
“This character in Washington, with his expensive travel tastes and funny redecorating plans, is running roughshod over the health of our people,” Brown said Tuesday at a press conference, referring to Pruitt. “This move by Pruitt won’t make America great. It will make America second rate, and will jeopardize America’s auto industry.”
He is referring to Pruitt’s ethics and spending conduct, which is being scrutinized in more than 10 federal investigations.
[Opinion: A quick catalog of all the worst Scott Pruitt scandals]
Brown also accused Pruitt of wanting people to spend more money on gasoline, to “create more pollution.”
He said if Pruitt doesn’t get on board with California’s preferred tough climate change policies, he should resign.
[Scott Pruitt signals fight with California over fuel-efficiency standards]
California is the nation’s largest market for zero-emission electric vehicles and is aiming to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent by 2030.
“If Pruitt doesn’t get it, if Trump doesn’t get it either, they [have] got to go,” Brown said.
The California governor and his counterpart, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, boasted Tuesday that the state has sued the Trump administration 10 times, including the latest one, on mostly environmental and immigration policy issues.
“We have not lost one case,” Becerra said. “So when people may have to decide between believing President Trump or believing California, the track record in court is clear.”
