epa must provide technical support and finally the epa must meet all of its nondiscretionary statutory duties by the prescribed deadlines. epa strategic plan for fiscal year 18 through 2022 underscores each of these necessities. in a strategic plan ep establishes a goal of corporate federalism and sets forth its objective to enhance shared count ability and increase transparency and public participation. epa school and objectives are consistent with those of their pollution control agents. in kentucky we take the responsibility seriously. and we worked diligently to bill are provisions under the act. we are proud of the significant improvement in air quality in we understand there is more work to conduct. in the spirit of cooperative federalism and like to provide a status report on air quality in kentucky and a detailed activity by her cabinet to fill--fulfill our obligation. in the last 10 years emissions of sulfur dioxide from air-conditioning units is decreased by 83% in emissions from nitrous oxide have decreased by more than 70% or bust ambient air marketing network measures thes

epa has had a cu

epa to do its job. states rely on our federal parts to ensure factories and power plants have strong pollution controls however just a few months ago u.s. epa revoked the once in always in policy that ensures the major sources of toxic air pollution are always subject to strict controls. these pollutants include lead, mercury and arsenic which can cause cancer and damage the nervous system. under the new policy, the sources can drop out of the program and increase emissions again. states will have to do their best to develop programs to clean the air and protect it but it means diverting resources that could address other public health threats. achieving the goal of tleen air is act protecting our communities, we achieve these most effectively with partn partnerships with the public industry. we appreciate congress's resistance to proposed budget cuts to the epa and its core programs, including grant programs and that's why we appreciate the federal workers who stayed with the program through this perio

by epa employee's? >> first there's no truth to the assertion that has been made about reassignment or otherwise. i am not aware of that ever happening and something i want to make very clear the folks that i am aware of those individuals are individuals that are serving in another capacity. i think that's important to note i want to emphasize to you that there is no action that we have that i'm aware of that in any way bring up the issues you raise such as reassignment or employment action based on that. >> can you assure me any employees of the epa that all whistleblower complaints are taken seriously at the epa and you will make your best efforts to make sure the whistleblowers are protected from any kind of retaliation? >> absolutely and i think that's how we get better. we have proven that in our processes. absolutely it's something i can commit to you that we will look at. >> i have had some of my constituents raise an issue regarding oil spills in late ponchartrain and i'm told that funding for c

he filed 14 lawsuits against the epa, taking the epa to court to prevent it from doing its job. it was a hope in this background. there was nothing in the record to suggest he would change. what he is doing now is going to bat for these industrial polluters from inside the muck. concerns, wascal there anything in his background ethical concerns at the state level? why would it change when he becomes epa administrator? guest: that is a great question. we learned last sunday these ethical concerns are part of a pattern that goes back for years while he was in oklahoma. what we have seen here in washington are things that make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. that is conflict of interest. going behind the president's back to give a raise to a political appointee, then punishing career professionals for trying to insist he play by the rules. has there ever been a larger toned deaf public official than to waste $43,000 on a private soundproof phone booths we can make calls that not even his secretary would know about? what is he trying to hide from the public? it is outrag

also, the epa must provide timely implementation guidance and technical support and finally the epa must meet all of its nondiscretionary statutory duties as by the prescribed deadlines. the strategic plan for fiscal year 18 through 2022 underscores each of these necessities. and in the strategic plan to establistheyestablish the goal f cooperative federalism and set forth its objectives to enhanceo the shared accountability and increase the transparency for public participation. the goal and objectives are consistent with those in the local air patrol agencies.s. in kentucky we take that responsibility seriously and work diligently to fulfill our obligations under the act. we are proud of the significant improvement and understand that there is more work to conduct. in the spirit of cooperative federalism i would like to provide a report on air quality air-quality and then detailed activity conducted by the cabinet to fulfill the obligations. the air-quality has been proven dramatically. the missions on sulfur dioxide or the electric generating units decreased by 83% and the missions of

are you the epa administrator? >> yes. >> just to be clear, do you run the epa? >> i do. >> yes or no, are you responsible for the many, many scandals plaguing the epa? >> i've responded to many of those questions here today. with facts and information. >> are you able to answer a yes or no? >>is not a yes or no answer. >> there's clear concern of what's been happening not just by the entire congress, and i appreciate you being here, but these questions need to be asked and answered. >> behave answered them today. >> you're not the only one that's been doing these ugly things, these horrific things, these scandal-plagued things in this administration and i hope that this is one of many hearings that this committee will have so we can get to the bottom of this and make sure taxpayers are made whole. >> the gentleman's time has expired. seeing no further members wishing to ask questions i would like to thank our witness for being here today. i would ask you to consent to commit the following documents for the record. letters to the chairman ranking member from laur

the sources include former appointees, current epa political appointees and current epa staff. we're told all sources that contacted the cokocommittee expressed similar concerns. so tonight, 64 democratic members of congress signed a statement calling on scott pruit to resign. that was before the new reporting from the a.p. about the multimillion security cost before this reporting about his senior counsel and multiple staffers including current political appointees raising the issues with the committee that oversees the epa whether or not she had to come to work to earn her salary working for scott pruit. but like i said, she has resigned. as of this second, scott pruit is still in his job in donald trump's cabinet but the night is young and stuff happens on fridays. the one very high profile person who is definitely leaving washington tonight is h.r. mcmaster. i hope you saw this footage today. did you see this today? remarkable footage of west wing staff and security counsel staff coming outside onto the grounds of the white house to cheer for him and applaud for him as he l

that's a weird thing for an epa administrator to do. noted that epa plays no formal reel. such activities are over seen by other u.s. government agencies like the energy department and regulatory agency farc. the only active liquified natural gas export plant in the united states at that time was one owned by taniar energy. it's a carl icahn joint. activist shareholder. it's fun to read through the business reporting about carl icahn using leverage to get the ceo of the company fired. that big of a shareholder with that power at the energy company. the only liquified natural gas. export terminal in the united states. if you buy liquified natural gas in the united states, you get it through that company. carl icahn gets scott pruit his job. scott pruit flies to morocco and on the taxpayers' dime and what does he go for? to promote chenniere energy, to persuade inexplicably to provide american gas to the benefit of papa carl icahn's pet financial project of the moment. and if this seems farfetched, this happened before carl icahn had to resign in a totally separate matter, a

but then we learned that this letter had been sent to the epaes epa epa's inspector general. senat this letter was sent this week asking to investigate reports that the senior staffer for scott pruitt, the person who is said to be his closest aide at the agencies, there are reports she was being paid full time for that senior counsel job at the epa, even though she was not actually showing up for work for three months. according to carper's letter, she did not show up for work despite being paid full time in november and december 2017 and january 2018. if that's true, that's an amazing gig, right? if what senator carper is asking about is true, that would mean she was getting paid for a full-time gig, and that included her getting to go on the morocco trip where she got to fly international first class to paris for the weekend and on to morocco and she got to avoid that thing when you come back and get dirty looks from your co-workers. she didn't have to deal with any of that because she actually didn't have to go to work for months. so that senior counsel again described as

are you the e epa adminisistrat? >>>> yes. >> do you run the epa? >> i do. >> are you responsible for the many scandals plaguing the epa? >> i have responded to many of his questions are today with facts and information. >> are you able to answer that in yes or no? >> it is not a yes or no question. >> it is pretty clear it is a guess or no answer. there is clear concern not only by the entire congress -- and of preset you being here, but these questions need to be asked than answered. >> and we have answer them. >> you are not the only one doing these ugly things, these terrific things, these scandal plagued things in this a administration and i hope this is one of many hearings this committee will have so we can get to the bottom of this and make sure tax tears are made whole. amy: that is democratic congress member of new mexico questioning scott pruitt. you had thee, sierra club. your major concerns about scott pruitt and were they address yesterday in this hearing? >> know, of course not. our concerns about scott pruitt have never been addresse

where congress had not acted and we saw that very acutely within the epa. a couple of examples that come to mind, the 2015 rule adopted that private new definition to a water of the united states. was stretched so far that it was really not recognizable to those that passed the clean water act when you include a dry creek bed and a puddle as a water of the united states. that is quite remarkable in light of what the intent and purpose and the language of the clean water eights intended to achieve. that's one example. the clean power plan is another. think about the interpretation of best systems of the emission rox under section 111 being the power of the federal government to coerce utility companies across the country to shift from fossil fuel generation of electricity to renewables. that is something that had never been done prior and it's obviously not within the text of the statute. a very generous reared what the best mission of emission equals but what drove those decisions was frankly this at todd from an executive branch perspective in the past adm

are you the epa administrator? >> yes. >> do you run the epa? >> i do. >> are you responsible for the many scandals plaguing the epa? >> i have responded to many of his questions are today with facts and information. >> are you able to answer that in yes or no? >> it is not a yes or no question. >> it is pretty clear it is a guess or no answer. there is clear concern not only by the entire congress -- and of preset you being here, but these questions need to be asked than answered. >> and we have answer them. >> you are not the only one doing these ugly things, these terrific things, these scandal plagued things in this a administration and i hope this is one of many hearings this committee will have so we can get to the bottom of this and make sure tax tears are made whole. amy: that is democratic congress member of new mexico questioning scott pruitt. you had thee, sierra club. your major concerns about scott pruitt and were they address yesterday in this hearing? >> know, of course not. our concerns about scott pruitt have never been addresse

will you commit the epa will provide this committee with all of the documents and information epa produces for those inquiries? >> absolutely. >> thank you. as i told you last time you were here this committee -- for the bulk of the statutes that the epa implements and we decide where the agency's money can best be friend. help me understand your guiding principles for determining legitimate uses of federal money bit epa including whether using any kind of previous spending guidance to make these decision s. >> congressman, i believe as we're making decisions, we have guidelines at the agency to drive the decisions. some of them are triggered to the science part of our office. those guidelines govern our decisions each and every day. >> are they similar lines that are similar to your predecessors? >> yes. >> in what ways? >> they predated our time. from travel, to internal decision-making on allocation of dollars to program offices. these are predated policies that govern our actions every single day. >> let me ask you about the issue of science and transparency. i've had a lot of constitu

>> this is not something that was unique to the epa. this is something you saw in other agencies as well wear a third-party would sue the government, epa or otherwise, and then go into a settlement discussion with the plaintiff and engage in what we would determine would be substantive rulemaking. a timeline that was in the statute that was changed, or a substantive step that would be required under rulemaking was put in. so is basically rulemaking, regulation through litigation but it was cabin with dissent decrease. last year i had a memo to agency, but the days of the sioux and settle are over as far as being sued by a third party and then using that process to engage in obligations that would be borne by others. to give an example, we had certain actions in the clean air act were states sought to intervene. this was before our time, sought to intervene in the case nhtsa direct impact on something very be preparing and the previous administration thought intervention and would take that decree and when you do that statement said this

no prior epa administrator has had anything like this. but the worst part, and i know you would haven't stood for it when you were a senator, the alleged retaliation against these five whistleblowers including trump campaign aides who tried to say don't do this. >> senator, what do you make of the -- there's news that pruitt refused white house assistance to prepare for hearings in the white house this week. does that trouble you? a white house official has said the president appears to support pruitt, but that the performance by pruitt this week during the hearings could change that. >> that's a calculation on his part. i suspect he feels like the team he has around him will sufficiently prepare him for the questions. i don't think he's going in there not anticipating he's going to be asked every single question we've talked about and more at these hearings. and i suspect he feels like he has a good team to prepare him for it. >> he sat down for a fox news interview that did not go so well. >> i suspect if that happens again, that's not

he filed 14 lawsuits against the epa, taking the epa to court to prevent it from doing its job. it was a hope in this background. there was nothing in the record to suggest he would change. what he is doing now is going to bat for these industrial polluters from inside the muck. concerns, wascal there anything in his background ethical concerns at the state level? why would it change when he becomes epa administrator? guest: that is a great question. we learned last sunday these ethical concerns are part of a pattern that goes back for years while he was in oklahoma. what we have seen here in washington are things that make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. that is conflict of interest. going behind the president's back to give a raise to a political appointee, then punishing career professionals for trying to insist he play by the rules. has there ever been a larger toned deaf public official than to waste $43,000 on a private soundproof phone booths we can make calls that not even his secretary would know about? what is he trying to hide from the public? it is outrag

that's a weird thing for an epa administrator to do. they play no formal role. such activities are over seen by other u.s. government agencys is li -- agencies like the government department. the only active liquified natural gas export plant in the united states at that time was one owned by taniar energy. it's fun to read through the business reporting about carl icahn using leverage to get the ce, oc ceo of the company fired. the only lick quified natural g. if you buy liquified natural gas in the united states, you get it through that company. carl icahn gets scott pruit his job. scott pruit flies to morocco and what does he go for? to promote the company and persuade in persuade inexplicably to provide american gas to the benefit of papa carl icahn's pet financial project and if this is farfetched, this happened before he has to resign in a accept are the -- separate matter.separate matter. and in addition to his connection to carl icahn, scott pruit at the time was also living for $50 a night in the home of the principle lobbiest for the company. so all th

for his travel that was all approved in advance by epa officials. in regards for the condo rental that has come under scrutiny which you mentioned, there, there was a highry unusual arrangement with the wife of a lobbyist, herself is a lobbyist but don't lobby epa. jay steven haert have some clients that overlap with epa regulation. there he paid $50 a night for the nights only when he stayed in the apartment. and there, they got a ruling from the ethics officials in the epa only late last week after folks started inquiring about it. in other words, this wasn't approved ahead of time but once the press started calling they had a determination. scott pruitt moved out and they said, actually, this is okay. juliette i'm going to show on the screen here which is scott getting ready to speak on the epa. unfortunately it's not a wide shot but on one side there's a t.v. screen that says certainty, on the other side there's a t.v. screen that said jobs, which may be a sblimal message for somebody whose about to lose his job. we have a couple of sources tell

a lot of people see an epa administrator who sued the epa 14 times as a fundamental problem. but it is the distraction and the drip, drip, drip of ethical problems and allegations of abuse of arrogance of power. >> the question is for whom? president trump would be willing to withstand that. i don't think he's so worried about it unless he gets to a point where it is so distracting to him or he gets too much attention with stealing his thunder. >> michael, a new tweet the president just put out in terms of what we have been talking about in terms of tariffs. despite the aluminum tariffs, aluminum prices are down 4%. people are surprised. i'm not. lots of money coming into the u.s. covers and jobs, jobs, jobs. >> this is part of the contradiction of what he does. he announces something with such a bold vision and immediately negotiates back from it. the question is whether the issues that we are discussing today, the new tariffs that are proposed, not initiated will ever come to pass. i'm sure president xi doesn't know either. >> when two leaders of the two most powerful natio

new trouble for the president's embattled epa president scott pruitt. the president is not pleased with pruitt's latest tv appearance in which he was hammered with a number of ethical scandals, including huge pay raises for eight. here is how it played out. >> i did not know about the pay raises until yesterday. >> one got 3,000, the other one is $6,000. one of your friends in oklahoma got a pay raise that's -- >> they did not get a pay raise. they did not. i stopped that yesterday. >> you stopped it. are you embarrassed? >> it should not have happened. and the officials involved in that process should not have done what they did. >> let's bring in senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, there's been many reports that pruitt right now is on very thin ice. what are you hearing? what's the latest? >> reporter: there is no question that epa leader scott pruitt is on thin ice. as we were playing that interview, we got word from andrews air force base who asked the president a question as he was flying to west virginia this afternoon if he still

administrators of the epa. and that is largely to dismantle it. >> right, to roll back the administrative state. and i think the smart way to do that would be to keep your head down, undo a bunch of regulations, and do it in a way that, in a way respects the process. scott pruitt's done the opposite of that. he fired all the scientists, he hasn't responded to freedom of information act requests, he's gone after a lot of headlines. and now with this flashy stuff, you know, scott pruitt seems to think he's batman, who wants to fly in a chartered jet and have a bulletproof car. that's not the way to not draw attention to yourself. >> speaking of that, i want to show you a tweet from chris lew, eric, which says, criticism of pruitt's $50 a night housing deal is unfair. there's a place within walking distance of epa for that amount. granted, it's a youth hostel and you have to sleep with nine other people and share a bathroom, but breakfast is included. jay and i were talking before the show, this stuff that he's ge

no prior epa administrator has anything like this. the worst part is the alleged retaliation against these five whistle blowers including trump campaign aides who tried to say don't do this. >> news that pruitt refused white house assistance to prepare for hearings in the house this week. does that trouble you? i mean a white house official says the president -- this week during the hearings could change that. >> that is a calculation on his part. i mean, i suspect he feels like the team he has around him will sufficiently prepare him for the questions and i don't think he is going in there not anticipating he is going to be asked every single question he is asked about and more at these hearings. >> he sat down for a fox news interview that is not going well. >> thanks very much. a lot ahead. we will take you to the white house as we wait to hear from president trump and his guest. president of france. tip that'll crack this case wide open! turns out the prints at the crime scene- awwwww...did mcgruffy wuffy get a tippy wippy? i'm se

i think the challenge is with epa on the administered aside and we need to make sure that the epa's by congress. >> and that is not unique to this administration, this is going on in the years prior to this administration -- >> yeah, there are different challenges most recently. yes. >> mr. columbus. >> my answer is yes. my concern about what is going on status quo is because of the things been going on there's a significant amount of uncertainty in the market and commodities market really likes certainty when there is uncertainty you see values go up, down, sideways people who are involved in system get caught in a box. we thank you should move forward we like the high octane solution and it's good place to start. >> if i can indulge for one more minute? >> without objection. >> thank you. the final question is this and mr. nicholson, this would be for you. glad to hear [inaudible] i can't wait for you all to build a 700-horsepower tahoe and i can get 75 miles a gallon. that said were talking something that is broader than the us possibly here and when we talk about worldwide environm

the epa boss was renting a condo in washington, d.c. for just $50 a night and only paying when he slept there. turns out that condo belongs to an oklahoma couple that donated money to pruitt's campaigns as a state official and lobbied his agency, too, on behalf of an oklahoma energy company. the white house is looking into it, as well as a substantial pay hike of more than $80,000 given to two of pruitt's employees. speaking to fox on wednesday, pruitt suggested he had no role in his employees' pay hikes. >> i corrected the action. we are in the process of how to place -- i did not know they got the pay raises until yesterday. >> reporter: pruitt's future uncertain. >> i can't speak to the future of scott pruitt. >>> likely because trump is torn about whether pruitt, a loyal foot soldier, should stay or go. cnn has learned that many of pruitt's supporters are in the president's ear telling him this guy gets things done and that pruitt's work at the epa is far more important than draining the swamp. among his accomplishments, rolling bac

you've got the head of the epa, right? the largest environmental watchdog in the whole government getting a sweetheart deal with a lobbyist with whom he has a long relationship to live in a condo that doubles as a hub for republican fund raisers? it doesn't get much swampyer than that. there's more the no, o "new york times" reporting last year they oo the epa signed off on an expansion plan everyone enbridge even though the obama administration move to fine that same company $61 million in connection with the 2010 pipeline episode that sent hundreds of thousands of crude oil into the kalamazoo river in michigan and other water awayways. can you guess who enbridge was paying to lobby the government? none other that be the same energy lobbyist whose wife co-owned the condo. i'm joined by investigative reporter eric lipton along with political analyst sam tine from "the daily beast" who broke the news about the gop fund raisers at the condo. what you find are places that were being represented by this lobbyist in question ha

the condo is just one of the questions about the epa chief's tenure. the president doesn't like bad headlines, but he says he does like pruitt. >> i want to look at it. i haven't seen the detail. but i can tell you at epa he has done a fantastic job. [ inaudible question ] >> on scott? i have to look at it close. i hear different versions of t but i'll make that determination. but he's a goodman, he's done a terrific job, but i'll take a look at it very closely. [ inaudible question ] >> no, scott is doing a great job where he is. >> another fact of the president is what he says outside the white house is very different than inside the beltway. >> i'm sorry, i couldn't hear your response earlier about scott pruitt. >> i think scott has done a fantastic job. i think he's a fantastic person. i believe -- you know, i just left -- coal and energy country. they love scott pruitt. they feel very strongly about scott pruitt, and they love scott pruitt. >> and so which is it? should you be happy if you're scott pruitt? the president says when he travels, he he

i think the challenges with epa are on the administrative side and we need to make sure epa is implementing as ordered by congress. >> this is not unique. this is going on years prior to this administration. >> we have different challenges most recently, yes. >> mr. columbus. >> my answer is yes. my concern about what's going on, the status quo. because of the things that have been going on there's a significant amount of uncertainty in the market. and commodities markets really like certainty. when there's uncertainty you see ovals go up, down, sideways. people involved in the system get caught in a box. we think you should move forward and we like the high octane solution as a good place to start. >> can i indulge the chair to give me one more minute >> without objection. >> okay. thank you. so my final question is this. mr. nicholson, this is for you. i'm glad there's a fight in terms of worldwide propulsion for gm. can't wait for you to build me a tahoe that gets 37 miles per gallon. we're talking about something that's broader than the u.s., possibly here. when we talk about worldwide

the issue is epa has mechanisms now. epa got to the market without a big overhaul of the clean air act. epa has mechanisms now for certification fuels to get authorized. i would say go through the process. >> thank you. and i'll return the balance of my time and again thank my colleague for mr. taco allowing us to go a second round. yield back to the chair. >> as i understand it, any and all cars on the road today can use premium fuel? >> you said can they use premium? >> well, yes, they could. >> when gm creates this new vehicle, this new engine, they are recommending use of premium. but what's to -- you're suggesting it runs better. what is to deny the consumer from fueling up with regular without damaging the engine? so, basically if it's a choice of premium or regular, cheaper or more expensive, how do we guarantee that any premium use will actually be realized? >> thank you. i want to go back to mr. mckinley's point. consumers could do that. i don't know anybody that does that. putting premium in a regular fuel vehi

but he is a hero at the epa. >> he said coming back from west virginia yesterday. he's a hero in coal country. he is very good for the industry. environmental advocates, not so much. you have awe series of stories, shady behavior, arrogance of power. the lobbyist renting this $50 a night apartment, was lobbying the epa contrary to their original statement. and this pattern of punishing people dissenting inside the organization all against the larger back drop of policies whether you approach the gender or not. inside stain teufbg agencies saying they can't use the term climate change. >> you were right. at the end of the day, don't overanalyze it either. this is the president of the united states who doesn't like people stealing his thunder. that's what it boils down to. >> so the question is can he survive? what he's got is someone extremely popular with his political base, with the business base that the epa regulates. he could say this is overblown. i'll stick by. >> and the president could change his mind and look for a new epa director. >> well, stay tuned. th

it's pure epa. vascepa, along with diet, is clinically proven to lower very high triglycerides by 33% in adults, without raising bad cholesterol. that's pure power. proven to work. vascepa is not right for everyone. do not take vascepa if you are allergic to icosapent ethyl or any inactive ingredient in vascepa. tell your doctor if you are allergic to fish, have liver problems... or other medical conditions and about any medications you take, especially those that may affect blood clotting. 2.3% of patients reported joint pain. it's clear. there's only one vascepa. ask your doctor about pure epa prescription vascepa. ♪ an expectation to surpass. burden. but that's the point. ♪ bring us doubt, and we'll bring you the first car with true hands free driving for the freeway. bring us a challenge, and we'll reinvent what it means to own a car. ♪ bring us all your expectations, and we'll defy them. again, and again, and again. he gets the best deal on the perfect hotel by using. tripadvisor! that's

host: how long have you been covering the epa and issues at the epa? guest: i have been covering epa since 2008. host: where else have you done your reporting? for a i worked at e&e while, politico, reuters television for a while and came back to e&e. is scott pruitt going to be testifying before today? guest: he will go to the house appropriations subcommittee on epa. host: is one hearing expected to be tougher than the other? guest: i would expect to the energy and commerce committee hearing this morning to have a few more fireworks. i feel like the appropriations committee might stick to the numbers and less on the ethics allegations. host: members starting to trickle in, you can see the live shot. that hearing expected to begin in about 10 minutes. al in new york, line for independents. go ahead. who is payinger: for this extravaganza this guy is going on? that is the first thing. i don't understand how he doesn't have -- what do you call it, conglomerate that can say, this is enough. it is like he can do practically whatever he wants. taxpayers ar

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so he's doing exactly at the epa what the president and his supporters would think. we do know the president doesn't like these distracting bad headlines. the stories don't seem to end. that's why we can't conclude that he's safe. we'll just see if the president can withstand more negative headlines. >> and let's talk about robert mueller's investigation. we've learned as recently as march 9th, mueller used a warrant for five more phone numbers. what does that tell but the investigation? >> it is moving. he looks at evidence he gets. he determines if there's more evidence that that initial evidence leads the and he pursues it. in this case it was the day before the secondary indictment against manafort that he got this new warrant out for information. we see this. we see stopping of russian oligarchs. this is just moving in a textbook matter about how a prosecutor moves. all the indications that this would end in november, december, valentine's day, those were all false leads. he is moving forward and it is expanding. >> there's an inside piece. what we used to call

. >> the epa may also revoke california's authority to set its own vehicle emissions requirement. the impact on what consumers might find on a a lot. >> reporter: for mandatory smog checks to other regulations, california has long had stricter vehicle emission standards and the rest of the country.>> it is either pass or fail. >> i came from new jersey. we don't have that. we do have an inspection, but there is no small testing. >> reporter: sales managers say customers are attracted to cleaner cars and incentives. >> it has impacted the car business all over. >> reporter: after the auto bailout, manufacturers agreed to achieve an economy of about 55 miles per gallon by 2025. monday, epa director, scott pruitt, said he would rollback that stander, saying it was set too high. he stated he is re-examining california's waiver under the clean air act to set its own, stricter standards. quote, cooperative federalism does not mean that one they can dictate standards for the rest of the country. the epa will set a national standard for greenhouse gas emissions. >> it has never been done

the epa administrator from 2013 to 2017. politico just broke this story and that is that -- scott pruitt was forced out of the condominium in d.c. that he was paying $50 a night for because he overstayed his welcome. it was a supposed to be a temporary fix. and in the last few hours mark zuckerberg announced new precaution to make the site more secure amed of mid-term elections. anyone who wants to run political ads must verify identity and location first. users who manage pages with large numbers of followers will also have to prove who they are. this is something -- a big development. facebook plans to hire thousands of more workers to help with the verification process for all of the pages. this comes as coo sheryl sandberg warns more data breaches could be discovered after audit underway at the company and she tried to explain why it took so long to crack down on security despite knowing years ago that cambridge analytica miss handled facebook user data. >> we thought that the data had been deleted and we should have che

. >> i'm not even sure he should be the epa administrator. let me show you a man whose personal character was never in question, some questioned his conduct on behalf of donald trump. this is the outgoing national security advisor h.r. mcmaster. he was unsermon iously fired by the president who hired john bolton to replace him. i want to ask you, phil rucker, put you on the spot, how does the guy get the rare you're fired from donald trump, he usually likes to do that by twitter missive or john kelly should be noted, too, mcmaster was a close ally of kelly. another sign of kelly's waning influence mcmaster is on his way out and pruitt is safe as can be for now. >> kelly had some disagreements with mcmaster and was eager for a change there, too. it's interesting that the white house staff are all lined up in the parking lot to cheer on mcmaster because the president was so sick of him. they did not like him personally. they never gelled. mcmaster was too much of an intellectual, a lecturer. trump wanted someone to get to the point, show him pi

how does the epa justify this? >> there's been a conflict within the epa itself over just how serious the threat is to scott pruitt. the division of homeland security has suggested that most of the supposed threats are really more people sounding off on social media. they did not find justification for 24/7 security coverage for the team of as many of 20 body guards basically that are costing as much as $3 million a year. there are other players within the epa who want that kind of expensive security coverage. that is basically pruitt's own security detail. there's friction within the agency itself. but it's unclear that there's sufficient justification for all of this spending. >> well, richard, is there justification to this? you will have some who make the argument, sure, optically it's not great but legally it's not over the line. does that hold water? >> it doesn't hold water with the average voter out there unless you support what he's doing at the environmental protection agency. now, if he wants to get on a

that was from the epa in september. you can sort of hear the scolding. it's not a soundproof booth because he's a weird guy who just randomly wants a soundproof booth. this is an official thing. he needs it. it's his scif. it's his sensitive compartmented information facility. you don't need one. but he does. that's what the epa said in september to justify spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on this thing. 2 1/2 months later, december, they told us the same story again, but this time we heard it straight from the boss. >> press accounts said that you installed a $25,000 soundproof booth in your office at epa headquarters. is that true? >> it's a secure phone line. >> okay. so it's a scif, what we call a sensitive compartmental information facility. is that right? >> they are -- yes. >> okay. so it's a scif? yes. scott pruitt saying very clearly, as clear as his office had been a few months before, this thing in his office which was originally thought to cost $25,000 turned out to be more like $43,000, that was his scif. now, scif is a real th