Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie predicted Sunday Scott Pruitt could be the next member of President Trump’s Cabinet to be pushed out of the administration, after it was revealed the Environmental Protection Agency administrator spent some of his first year in office living in a Washington townhouse co-owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist.
“I don’t know how you survive this one, and if he has to go, it’s because he never should’ve been there in the first place,” Christie told ABC.
“This was a brutally unprofessional transition. This was a transition that didn’t vet people for this type of judgment issues,” he added.
On Pres. Trump’s embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Fmr. Gov. @ChrisChristie tells @GStephanopoulos: “I don’t know how you survive this one, and if he has to go, it’s because he never should’ve been there in the first place.” #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/gFE8NntYvo
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 1, 2018
The condo that Pruitt occupied is owned by a company that lists Vicki Hart, the wife of prominent Republican donor J. Steven Hart, as an owner. Steven Hart said his wife was not the majority owner of the property and it had been rented at market rate.
Christie was initially charged with overseeing Trump’s transition team before he was replaced by Vice President Mike Pence shortly after the 2016 election.
Christie, a former federal prosecutor, also reiterated advice that Trump not give an in-person interview to Robert Mueller for the special counsel’s Russia probe.
“He’s a salesman, and salesmen at times tend to be hyperbolic,” Christie said of Trump. “That’s OK when you’re out on the campaign hustings. That’s OK when you’re working on Congress. It is not OK when you’re sitting talking to federal agents.”
