REUTERS/Mike Segar
Laura Ingraham.
- Fox News opinion host Laura Ingraham is sounding the alarm over the growing criticism against Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt.
- "Pruitt is the swamp," Ingraham said in a tweet on Tuesday.
- Pruitt is facing renewed scrutiny over news that he allegedly asked assistants to pay for his hotel reservations on their personal credit cards.
- An EPA representative responded to the latest batch of allegations, accusing Pruitt's critics of "working to distract Americans."
Fox News opinion host Laura Ingraham is sounding the alarm over the growing criticism against Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, following a new bath of reported scandals that have come to light in recent days.
"Pruitt is the swamp. Drain it," Ingraham tweeted on Tuesday.
Ingraham, who has been supportive of nearly all of President Donald Trump's appointees, has been critical of the administrator amid claims ranging from inappropriate use of government funds, to personal deals that raise ethics questions.
"PRUITT BAD JUDGMENT HURTING @POTUS, GOTTA GO," Ingraham tweeted in June.
The embattled administrator faced renewed scrutiny on Tuesday, after a Washington Post report said he asked assistants to pay for his hotel reservations using their personal credit cards. One of Pruitt's schedulers reportedly paid for a $600 hotel reservation, former deputy chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski said.
Pruitt reportedly did not reimburse the scheduler, and Ryan Jackson, Pruitt's chief of staff, "literally pulled six 100 dollar bills out of his wallet and gave it," Chmielewski said during an MSNBC interview.
An EPA representative responded to the report, saying the agency "will not be commenting on anonymous sources who are working to distract Americans from the Trump Administration's accomplishments on regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship," CNN reported.
Trump is apparently aware of the turmoil surrounding Pruitt, but has remained publicly supportive of him.
"I'm not happy about certain things," Trump said in June. "But he's done a fantastic job running the EPA, which is very overriding. But I am not happy about it."
EPA whistleblower Kevin Chmielewski tells @chrislhayes in one instance, Pruitt's chief of staff "literally pulled six 100 dollar bills out of his wallet" to pay back a young staffer who hadn't been reimbursed for charging hotel rooms for Pruitt's family on her personal card. pic.twitter.com/eWxcpQvOl5
- All In w/Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) July 4, 2018