scott pruitt is a crook. he's cost taxpayers millions and millions of dollars. >> what do you think the chances of that are? is this over? he resigns and it's over or do you think there's legal jeopardy for him? >> i think there's legal jeopardy. there's certainly legal jeopardy. does a politicized justice department follow up or will there be an independent investigation of some kind? there could have. he's damaged this country enormously. he's just been so blatant about his disregard for the law, as trump is as well. so i think trump -- i think what really happened is that he should have been fired in. in a normal administration he wouldn't have been appointed. but even in this administration he should have been fired months ago but he sees himself in pruitt. he likes the swash buckling, take what the hell you want and who gives a damn what the public says. they're both a great victims player. they cause themselves trouble and then blame somebody else. >> there was also the whole question raised by hans nic

you have to be scott pruitt bad. >> you have to be scott pruitt bad and clearly the number is 13. we now know what the number is. >> we have a floor. >> we have a floor. thank god, we have a floor. >> we do. >> and so here's the thing that is so amusing and amazing about all of this, nicolle, is that scott pruitt didn't care and neither did donald trump to get to 13. let's not overlook that. thank you. >> he's not getting pushed out because he was corrupt. >> exactly. >> he's not getting pushed out because there were 13. he's not getting pushed out because he was weird enough to wear tactical pants in a phone booth. he's getting pushld out because he was getting bad pr for donald trump. >> as we were talking before, the president said you're getting way too much press now. >> above me. so here's the list. we put this up. so he ordered raises for two aides despite the white house rejecting the request. he spent $3 million of taxpayer funds on a security detail. biometric locks were installed in his office door. i don't know what that means. came under fire for renting the bedroom.

you have been busy following scott pruitt. tell us what were the most glaring scandals for this had min straightor? >> you are talking about 14 different probes he was up to. the long list of headlines. see them here on this screen. hard to keep up with. some of the early ones we forgot about. but the big ones were his travel tendencies. he was spending $3.5 million a year on 24/7 security. first class travel. this was all unprecedented on the taxpayer dime. you know, some of the other things that people were focused on were his spending. how he was attempting to personally gain, that's the allegation, from his job as administrator of the epa. getting under market rate condo from a lobbyist who was lobbying the administration. you know, a soundproof booth that people said were just not necessary. fountain pens that he was buying. but some of the more bizarre things, you know, really made people wonder, having his staff run errands for him going to buy expensive lotion he wanted. going to buy a used mattress from the trump hote

bottom line, scott pruitt is out. i don't think anybody behind me on capitol hill is terribly surprised. after a series of bad headlines over recent weeks and months making him look bad and reflecting poorly on the trump administration. bottom line, there will be a new epa administrator picked by president trump the i think a lot of republicans on capitol hill will be breathing a sigh of relief. >> trace: mike, we talked about this, for color on this, may have come out of the bloo here, a lot -- blue here. a lot of people and controversy, but yesterday for the fourth of july he was at the white house, he was there, he was -- he seemed in good spirits from everybody. and apparently, the decision was made some time this morning. as we said, president trump is now on his way to montana. he is campaigning for matt rosendale there, campaigning against jon tester. the president releasing this tweet above air force one. i want to, if i can, quickly, want to read this, again. i now have it. it says, i have accepted the resign

epa administrator scott pruitt has resigned. pruitt facing at least 14 federal probes regarding his spending, his management, ethics while in office. just a short time ago senator burn nissan ders tweeted the most, scott pruitt was the worst epa administrator, not only has he acted time and time again in unethical manner but led the agency in exactly the wrong direction. joining me on the phone is senator sanders himself. senator sanders, thank you so much for taking the time. your reaction to pruitt's departure? >> well, you read it. i think this guy has done in callable harm to environmental protection in this country. and he has also ethically challenged. but the major concern that i have is that at a time when climate change is the great environmental crisis facing this planet, and just this week we have seen reports of community fall over america in the world, seeing the highest temperatures they've seen. we have an epa director who doesn't believe in climate change, let alone propose ideas to address the crisis. in my view

with scott pruitt a lot more than that. really the defense the white house could provide for him in the wake of these scandals he was facing 14 federal probes was that he was doing what the president wanted over at the epa. he was rolling back those environmental regulation rs. he was doing those obamaeral guidelines. really doing what the president wanted. but that raised a question of if a staffer is doing something like that, something that administration finds useful, are they willing to overlook the scandals against him. and the blatant misuse of taxpayer money. you also can't ignore that the president has been attending fund raisers in recent weeks, one of them is the bill air harold ham, key figure in oil and gas, that is someone that the president was having fundraising dinners with. private residences here in washington. that is certainly someone who liked the work that scott pruitt was doing over at the epa. so it's a little bit more than just their personal relationship. it goes into the politics of what exactly

scott pruitt is out. president trump telling reporters he has accepted the resignation of his embattled epa chief, saying it was very much up t

scott pruitt is out. president trump telling reporters he has accepted the resignation of his embattled epa chief, saying it was very much up to him, pruitt. and that pruitt didn't want to be a distraction. it's a surprising resignation, given that just 24 hours ago, pruitt was with the president at the white house fourth of july picnic. the president even giving him a shout-out. >> we're also honored to be joined by members of my cabinet. administrator scott pruitt. >> but today, pruitt writing to the president this in part. "it is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role, first because i count it a blessing to be serving you in any capacity, but also because of the transformative work that is occurring. however, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us." the unrelenting attacks pruitt speaks of are actually a stream of scandals which he created. a stream of scandals being investigated by his own agency. the list

scott pruitt us out. bernie sanders delighted. scott pruitt was the worst in the epa administrator. he said he ran it in the wrong direction. count sanders delighted. allstate agents riding sweep. call one today. are you in good hands? more and more people are in a chevy for the first time. now you can too during the chevy 4th of july sales event. now through july 9, get 10 to 20 percent below msrp on your favorite chevy models when you finance with gm financial. that's over ten thousand dollars on this silverado ltz. this 4th of july, discover why chevy is the most awarded and fastest growing brand the last four years overall. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. >> neil: stocks up even though those tariffs are going down. in a little less than eight hours from now. dedra bolton on what's coming and what could be the fallout. >> in an interconnected world as we all know and as of midnight tonight unless there's some sort of last minute relief, the u.s. is going to be imposing $34 billion in tariffs on imported chinese machinery, auto parts, medical devices. so here is a list

what do you make of this scott pruitt guy? always got to keep your eye on him in this town i guess. >> i am shocked that we are having this conversation right now. are you kidding me? under 14 federal investigations right now and what we know from the story from the excellent reporting is that not only did pruitt say put me into this position and said so several times, what he was looking for was to then exit the position and then run for office in his home state of oklahoma. so whether that would be to run for govern nor or run for united states senate, who knows? right now. i'm not too surprised that scott pruitt did this. he seems to have a lot of moxie for someone fairly new to washington. >> abby, seems to me the president goes after the attorney general all the time and i guess you wouldn't be surprised that scott pruitt angling for his job and difficult for the president to fire jeff sessions and trigger a backlash of capitol hill. what do you make of this? >> we know that scott pruitt talked to the president in the pas

scott pruitt, in the president's eyes, scott pruitt was successfully deregulating the epa by replacing career epa people with political people, with a mission, you know, that just isn't in keeping with what the epa had in the past. but it is the president's new mission of reducing regulation. >> reporter: scott pruitt is gone from the epa but his legacy will long endure. what he did in terms of rolling back obama-era and even bush era and bush 41 era environmental protections, that was a core goal not just of this administration but a lot of congressmen. conservatives who have long thought the epa was overzealous, overregulatory. when you talk to conservatives on capitol hill, yes, they hold their nose on some of the things president trump has done, particularly with tariffs and going the other way on free trade. we've most recently seen that with the tiff and back and forth with the chamber of commerce, a core long-standing republican group. but conservatives always tend to praise trump on two things. number one, neil gorsuch, and now potentially a second supreme court nominee. two, t

scott pruitt, we don't need extra news in washington. scott pruitt seems to lend a hand every chance that he gets. we know that president has been extremely angry with the attorney general. he thought about replacing him before. what do you make of this new wrinkle that scott pruitt wants jeff sessions' job? >> look, i mean, i think the most obvious angle is a demonstration of such kind of raw timerity by scott pruitt. he thinks about making an audacious move like this and going to the president and the idea if it's true that the president actually considered this. what chaos that would create of removing sessions with someone like pruitt with all the controversy and only then to have pruitt, i guess the reporting is that he wanted to stay about 200 days. and then, you know, use the vacancy act that way and then go and run for office again. but just all of it seems to be so tone deaf to what pruitt is dealing with. >> he likes fine lotions and fine mattresses and cheap apartments and the attorney general's job, it appears. this comes as

scott pruitt had been a leader of the epa. he had had critics from both sides of the aisle whether it was for his misuse of epa funds, decisions that he had made but in particular a lot of it was it was again, as far as scott pruitt and the criticism coming at him from both sides of the aisle he needed to go a lot of it was because of miss spending and misuse of funds and now it looks like president trump is tweeting about this but i don't have the e-mail and i'm being told that president trump is tweeting right now i'll get that to you in just a moment but again as far as scott pruitt goes just to be clear this isn't completely unexpected. this is something that's brewing in washington. here is the tweet from the president i'm just getting it now. the same thing. i've accepted the resignation of scott pruitt he's tweeting basically what i read to you earlier a moment ago. that he's accepted the resignation of scott pruitt so he's putting it out on twitter with a statement from blake burman via the white house obviously all of

he was the deputy to scott pruitt. pruitt, injure wheeler is a former coal lobbyist. >> someone representing the coal industry. is it possible that prewitt found out about his recognition -- resignation via tweet? >> it is very possible. was never an inner circle guy. you didn't see him conversing with the president very often. i don't know the donald trump will continue a relationship but given scott pruitt's relationship -- interest in random rating himself i wouldn't be surprised if he figures out a way to do pretty well in private industry. >> what is the unfinished business for the administration at the epa? >> there is so much that they have only started doing in terms of the deregulatory initiatives. .hey have to finish they are working on the rollback on methane regulations and water pollution rule. there are still frankly some conservatives who are pushing the epa to take on the endangerment ending to redo the epa's landmark conclusion that carbon dioxide emissions were a danger to public health and welfare. w

pruitt is not serving anybody but scott pruitt? >> it's a different experience hearing eric bolling criticizing a fellow conservative like that. i can't say it's not well deserved. everyone knows about scott pruitt's attitude. he's a former attorney general who has one head for the law and another for ethics. he seems to be entirely blind or tone deaf to ethics. we've seen it repeatedly. and we have a situation where he is being confronted by a citizen out there in the regular dining world. and i've editorialized against this sort of a demonstration in public, i can't say that it wasn't well deserved in pruitt's case. >> so to be clear what do you make of what chrkristin did and what others have done in this administration? >> i'm old enough to remember the original sit-ins down in north carolina that started the '60s phase of the civil rights movement. you protested by sitting down in a restaurant, and now you protest by interrupting somebody else's meal. however, this is a natural on the -- consequence for the atmosphere we're li

i have accepted the resignation of scott pruitt within the agency, scott has done an outstanding job and i will always be thankful for this. deputy andrew wheeler will assume duties. the president tweeting that out just a short while ago. pruitt has been a subject of 16 investigations. the spending on travel, questionable use on personal detail. the room that he rented from a wife of a lob wi at $50 a night. for months, president trump had stood by his epa administrator. just last month trump was praising his work. >> scott pruitt is doing a great job within the walls of the epa. i am not saying that he is blameless, but we'll see what happens. >> in his resignation later he says, it is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role first because i count it as a blessing to be serving you in any capacity, but also because of the transformative work that is occurring. >> with us our panel. >> heidi, let me ask you, we had the president there with what he said a couple of weeks ago, we had pruitt at the white house last night, what changed in trump's thinking and when did

way to scott pruitt, i think that becomes immensely difficult. and you cannot just point and eba secretary. that has to go through the senate, and thatis has to go through the senate, and that is where it could be compared. -- epa. he that is where it could be compared. —— epa. he could be complicated and ta ke —— epa. he could be complicated and take months. —— it could be. eric ham is a political analyst and author on the republican why now? as the scene, scott pruitt is under investigation. he is under 13 investigations. i think where he went too far was with this issue as it relates tojeff sessions, the embattled attorney general. and that led to the president. and so wildly was willing to look over many of scott pruitt‘s ethical lapses in controversies, the fact that this final controversy landed right at the president's doorstep, that was a bridge too far. as any cabinet member knows, your first order of business is to do no harm, particularly to be president. and this is an issue where the president finally saw the writing on

but that's what scott pruitt gets. we can't tell these days when the president starts to praise somebody more or less, whether that person is nearing the exits or not. what does it look like, what does a scott pruitt resignation look like? is it a resignation, a firing, a moving of scott pruitt somewhere else? >> i can tell you all of us are holding our phones close to see what's going to be tweeted. but, you know, the general thinking i think around this is -- and look, we've talked to people close to mr. pruitt who think he could be gone as early as tomorrow. we've talked to people who think he will stay until he wants to leave. however it happens, we're told pretty consistently that, you know, the president will let him leave with dignity, perhaps in a way that he wants to leave, perhaps after a regulatory victory. one thing to note is that the epa intends to submit a new version of the clean power plan. that was former president obama's signature climate plan, to the white house for review this week. that's a prett

. >> tonight, scott pruitt is out. epa administrator resigning in disgrace among 15 ongoing investigations. >> i love. we love. >> what happens now and what tipped scott pruitt's exit. >> we put a bigger swamp creature in there. >> scotus decision winds down. >> the president's three alleged finalist for the supreme court vaktcy. >> he is one of the smartest people i've ever known and one of the nicest people i have ever known. >> i am chris hayes and the last time i was at this desk, i interviewed a die hard trump supporter. >> training the swamp and not only did we not drain the swamp, we put a bigger creature in there. >> 48 hours after that interview, after pruitt was spotted at the white house, the president accepted pruitt's resignation. exploiting his office for perks and personal gains. pruitt's extraordinary list prompted debates among historians. hard to think of any politician whose record is more extensive. trying to get his wife a franchise. the d.c. apartment he rented for $50 a knife with a wife of energ

the head of the epa, scott pruitt, stepdown. his resignation follows a serieh of scandals the dogged his tenure. president trump announced it in his usual fashion, by tweet, saying "i have acceptethe resignation of scott pruitt. within the agency, scott has done an outstanding job and i will always be thankful to him for this." he has been the subject of numerous stories c which haled into question his conduct. for more on this most recentin shakeup, i am by the north america reporter. starting with you, this has been going on for a long time. why has he decided to resign now? >> i think you was pushed to the white house. 12 different investigations were in t tping point. there was a new york s timry about the firing of an aid that she disagreed about meetings wanted deleted from the public record. it was an accumulation of scandal after scandal, and the white house tolerates they liked the policies he was implementing at the w epa, but th ultimately the presidents this vision he said this was enough. jane: theres no mention of

caller: scott pruitt. resignation, won't make a lot of difference, except that one man has been caught being a crook. he is out. it is the policies that are destroying our environment, they will continue. as long as we have these policies exist, we're going to continue to have more breathing problems, diseases we never heard of before. the children are coming down with diseases that we have no idea where they came from. they have infections. host: as far as the policies themselves -- which policy did you have the most problems with? caller: all of them. in the first place, he went in not even knowing what the duties of the environmental protection agency were. he did not know they included any sort of nuclear waste. he didn't realize that. the thought it had nothing to do with that. he is just -- he was not prepared to do a good job. i do not like their policies about water, air, not focusing the oil.energy, i think they have made, whatever they are doing is trying to support the rich. make more money for

. >> scott pruitt, administrator of the epa. >> reporter: embattled epa chief scott pruitt out tonight after months of mounting ethics scandals and questions about his behavior. president trump announcing on twitter, i have accepted the resignation of scott pruitt as the administrator of the environmental protection agency, praising pruitt's work rolling back obama era regulations at the epa, but making no mention of the dozens of ethics questions facing him. pruitt writing in a letter to the president, your confidence in me has blessed me personally. adding the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizeable toll. pruitt had been under a cloud of scandals for months, constantly facing questions about his security detail, pricey first class travel and cozy relationships with lobbyists. pruitt was back in the headlines just this week. a cnn report revealing he and his aides kept secret calendars to hide contentious meetings. an aide testifying before the house oversight committee that pruitt asked her to find his wife a job with a salary of o

scott pruitt resigned, citing unrelenting attacks. cbs reporter is at the white house with more. >> reporter: as you know, four months president trump has called -- has been called to fire scott pruitt. it appears that the many accusations of corruption in the investigations into this accusations finally became too much. president trump tweeted the news that he has accepted the resignation of scott pruitt as the administrator of the environmental protection agency. speaking on air force one, the president said the decision has been in the works for a few days and that there is no final straw, that scott pruitt felt he was a distraction. in his resignation letter he said the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented, and have taken a sizable toll on all of us. inspector general is in the midst of five audits, including pruitt suspending on security and travel. and democrats have seized on the $43,000 soundproof booth in his office, which he defended before congress. >> i was not involved in the approval and if

topping this hour, scott pruitt. he's not off. he's out, facing, count them, 14 ethical and potential legal investigations. he stepped out today as epa administrator. that's 14 by the way not counting the reports that he his security detail drive him around so he could buy a special kind of skin lotion, and it's not including the used luxury mattress he tried to wrangle from president trump's hotel in washington. on top of that, the scandals that is, not the mattress, he mentioned none of that in his resignation letter. and president trump called him a terrific. more from cnn's kaitlan collins. >> scott pruitt, administrator of the epa. >> reporter: embattled epa chief scott pruitt out tonight after months of mounting ethics scandals and questions about his behavior. president trump announcing on twitter, i have accepted the resignation of scott pruitt as the administrator of the environmental protection agency, praising pruitt's work rolling back obama era regulations at the epa, but making no mention of the dozens of ethics ques

plus chutzpah and scott pruitt. cnn has told the embattled epa chief, told the president he should be named attorney general. if you are having a

scott pruitt has been marred by many, many controversies. he had -- he is facing more than a dozen ethics investigations, everything fro getting a sweet deal on his condominium here in washingtc. to travel expenses to security expenses and even spending a lot of money on fancy pens so scott pruitt, as you said, is out as epa pat?f. >> we know congress wants to conduct an inveotigation of pruitt so what happens now with him wand that? >> well, as i said, scott pruitt s facing over a dozen ethics investigations. those investigations will continue. now, he's also -- aside from all the scandals, heee also has trump's point man for rolling back a number of environmentalg tions put forth by the obama administration, including boosting the continued burning of fossil fuels which is blamed on climate change, so he' been under fire by environmentalists, by some lobbyists. it's been a very scandal-plagued tenure, pat? >> it certainly has been. jennifer, thank you. >> thanks. >>> right now maryland election officials are busy counting provisional ballo

a >> trump has been supportive of scott pruitt despite bipartisan calls for scott pruitt to step down. bernie sanders and called him the worst epa administrator in the history of the agency. susan collins wrote his ethical feelings are too numerous to recount and i am glad he had is finally stepping down. psalmist say he was unfairly singled out. >> the issue is not that scott pruitt showed bad judgment. it's because he was effective at his job and he was articulating and advancing an agenda. >> the president announced the number two will become of the acting administrator until trump nominates a new chief. that person will still have to be confirmed by the senate. and washington, lauren blanchard, fox news. >> the trump administration agenda for the epa will not change. epa is pushing for a rollback of stricter field standards for cars and trucks as well as the repeal of an obama era rule targeting emissions from coal fueled power plants. scott pruitt also pushed back a plan to eventually been a pesticide link to brain and nervous system damage in children, but a proposal to eliminat

he had a bright idea about who could replace him, scott pruitt. kaitlan collins joins us with what she learned. kaitlan, you broke this story. what's going on here with this somewhat odd suggestion by scott pruitt? >> a stunning turn of events, john. and now we're learning more about why it was the president over the last few months has been floating the idea to his aides and advisers about replacing sessions with scott pruitt. it's because scott pruitt went directly to president trump during this meeting in the oval office, and he suggested firing jeff sessions, putting him in at the department of justice where he would stay for about 210 days under the vacancies reform act which allows someone who has been senate confirmed and is an agency head to take over a position like that, and then he told the president that after those days were up, he would go back to oklahoma. he hoped to run for office, and the president could nominate a new person to be the attorney general. this goes to show why it is the president has been floating this idea. this s

♪ >>> this morning epa chief scott pruitt is out amid mounting public outcry and multiple ethics scandals. president trump says pruitt chose to resign because he felt he was a distraction. plus, president trump holds a campaign-style rally in montana and unleashes on some of his favorite targets. new overnight, secretary of state mike pompeo has landed in north korea. he is hoping to fill in some of the details on the agreement between president trump and kim jong-un. ♪ >>> good morning, everyone. it is friday, july 6th. i'm ayman mohyeldin. we begin with new information about the ongoing rescue efforts to raise 12 boys and a soccer coach trapped in a flooded cave in thailand. we learned a tiefr who was once a member of thailand's elite navy seal unit has died during a rescue operation. rescue teams have been working around the clock for days trying to figure out how to get the group out of the cave, but clearly the conditions are too dangerous. joining us live from chiang rai, thailand, what can you tell us about the setback, janis mackey frayer? >> reporter: this is a reminder of the

>> it is hard to understand, because scott pruitt is a smart guy. and he has done so many things that has brought unwanted attention to himself. just as kevin said, it is hard to understand why he would have engaged in so many activities that were clearly he should know unethical. >> one thing that is key goes to broader questions of conflict of interest. using public office to enrich himself, but this question of who he is meeting with and what he is saying. and this question of the calendars, those should be public records and important that those be preserved right? >> certainly. there is an integrity with the public records. and a slew of outlets depend on those records. there is no question that those are supposed to stay unadulterated and i am sure this is going to be added to the list of things that investigators will be looking at. >> do you have a sense of why he is been able to endure? >> yes, i feel like we have done a lot of reporting on this and our sense is there are two things. one is clearly that he has worked diligently to execute t

scott pruitt personally appealed to donald trump to fire jeff sessions and let him, scott pruitt, run the justice department. now, we're bringing this up because white house spokesman hogan gidlee was asked about this just now. a and hallie jackson says hogan tells her the report is troublesome, says the president is concerned about it, but there is nothing to announce personnelwise at the moment. >> and we did hear internally there was some discussion of scott pruitt taking over for sessions. when sessions seemed to be most in deep water back in the spring. and because he's been senate confirmed -- he could move into that position very easily. >> he's at the epa, give me a job running justice. >> it would never happen now. >> by showing himself willing to be both totally lawless and totally subservient. >> there are people who could do this job who would -- >> who would dismantle the environment. >> there are other republicans who would do that for the president. >> why is he sticking so closely with scott pruitt? he doesn't want to give the libs of when. that's what it would look li

joins us with the latest >> fks on both sides not surprised scott pruitt is out. considering he's facing at least a dozen federal ethics probes, telling reporte aboard air force one that he had been talking about his exit from the administration fr, ote, a couple of ys, in blames the unrelenting attacks on himself a family as having taken a toll.r, ea house democrats asked vestigate pruitt for criminal conduct. allegations range from violenting corruption laws to question aut excessive on first like a 20 m armed security details all the wayo aides completelying personality chores >> you don't want to give opponents ammunition >> theot issue is that scott pruitt showed bad judgment. it's because he was effectiveobn his j as epa administrator and articulating and advancing an ay, andrew wheeler, pruitt's deputy a former co lobbyist wil. ng will he remainhelm of theth goes to a confirmation process. one thing we do know that is scott pruitt's last day at epa administrator is tomorrow.n one since the deadly shooting at the capital gazette in annapolis maryland. fi peo

scott pruitt is out as epa administrator. just a day after celebrating the fourth of july at the white house. following a lengthy list of ethics questions and investigations in office. president trump said that he accepted his resignation. any minute now, we expect to hear from president trump in great falls, montana where he's hosting a rally for matt rosendale. one can expect, he might have something to say about today's resignation. he did on air force one. while we wait to hear from the president in montana, we turn to

yes, scott pruitt should be able to eat in peace. yes, taxpayers have a right to ask -- well, he's not an elected official obviously but they have a right to ask officials what they are doing if they have questions. have we gotten to a point though where this is ineffective, at best, ned? >> well, first of all, i would say -- all for free speech, all for accountability. i think we have to remember where we need to draw the line. when we start to have political harassment over political differences and we're harassing public officials in their private time, i think we need to draw the line and say that's not how we settle our differences here. obviously we have to have civil disagreements. but if you disagree with the policies that are being implemented, we settle them at the ballot box. so i think that we can't normalize this kind of behavior. i think it will lead to even further bad behavior. we have to say again, like with maxine waters and her comments, i was very appreciative of chuck shumer andcy pelosi calling her out. we can s

he ousted scott pruitt. this story matters for many reasons, but among them is the fact it shows reporting, pressure and accountability still can work in donald trump's washington. it may not be a coincidence that donald trump put this news out today, which is of course a traditionally sleepy period after july 4th. if donald trump has to cave, maybe he wants to do it during a holiday news week when he thinks fewer people may not notice. but that's just the optics part. the substance is far more important. and the substance tonight that i can report to you is scoot pruitt is out. donald trump tweeting it today. he told reporters while everyone knows the controversies with scott, within the agency, he said, we were extremely happy. that is largely false. he was under fire precisely because people within the epa blew the whistle on his contact from making an aid find a job for his wife to spending $40,000 on a soundproof phone booth to trying to get a discount on a used trump hotel mattress to the bizarre er ra

of scott pruitt. it's been a tough environment these days for pruitt. watch what happens when a mom confronts him at a restaurant in d.c. >> hi. i just wanted to urge you to resign. because of what you're doing to the environment in our country. this is my son. he loves animals. he loves clean air. he loves clean water. we deserve to have somebody at epa who protects our environment. somebody who believes in climate change and takes it seriously, for all of us and our children. i would urge you to resign before your scandals push you out. >> that video comes from kristen mink. she's a local teacher that says pruitt had no response and left after that moment you just watched. this morning, as we wade into "swamp watch" we're looking at the scandals calling for pruitt to resign. "the washington post" has this closed-door house interview s about pruitt's more controversial spending practices. there are 15 ongoing investigations looking into scott pruitt. here to talk about new reporting is "washington po

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scott pruitt is under investigation. he is under 13 investigations right now. i think where he went too far was with this issue as it relates tojeff sessions, the embattled attorney general. and we saw that that led to the president. and so while the president was willing to look over many of scott pruitt‘s ethical lapses and controversies, the fact that this final controversy landed right at the president's doorstep, that was a bridge too far because, as any cabinet member knows, your first order of business is to do no harm, particularly to the president. and this is an issue where i think the president finally saw the writing on the wall and had to move forward with allowing scott pruitt to move on. what impact will this have on things within donald trump's inner circle, do you think? well, we are looking at at a white house already stretched very thin. i mean, if you look at what is going on, the president is looking to announce his nominee to the supreme court on monday. so that will be a very bruising nomination fight that will take place in the fall. h

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guess who's there -- scott pruitt. the president introduced him a few moments ago and at least for now seems like scott pruitt is still on the job here tonight. jim? >> he hasn't fallen too far out of favor. jeff zeleny at the white house, thank you. >>> still ahead, the latest of new york city where a protester on the statue of liberty is in a standoff with police. looking at live pictures right there. we'll keep you posted on those developments. also ahead, is michael cohen sending a signal by erasing his role as president trump's attorney from twitter? how can we say when you book direct at choicehotels.com you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed? let's get someone to say it with a really low voice. carl? lowest price guaranteed. what about the world's lowest limbo stick? how low can you go? nice one, carl. hey i've got an idea. just say, badda book. badda boom. badda book. badda boom. nice. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com >>> we are following two breaking stories.

scott pruitt forced out at the epa. a flood of press speculation as michael cohen goes public with vo: your girls have been with you through every moment of your life. they were with you when you felt unbreakable. and with you when you had your heart broken. they were with you when you shared your love with the world. and with you when she became your world. they're still with you right now. but... how well do you know them? this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. howie: four out of the 12 boys trapped in a cave in tiled for 15 -- me in thailand taken to safety. rescuers planning to get three more boys out in the next 10-20 hours. more updates as we get them. [♪] media's mounting allegations against scott pruitt ranging from petty

jeff sessions and replace him with scott pruitt. here now to join us is norm eisen if it is great to have you with us. happy birthday america. they say that skrothd pruitt says that hey, you should fire jeff sessions, slide me into that position, you questioned if it would even be legal. >> thanks for having me back. back in march when we first got a whiff this might be going on, i wrote and explained there is the vacancies reform act that lets you replace someone that dies or quits with someone else who has already been confirmed by the senate for 210 days. but it doesn't say anything about firing somebody or ousting somebody, or one cabinet secretary. it's like shakespeare. if the president had done that, he would have been acting illegally. that would still be the case. >> so you're suggesting that maybe scott pruitt doesn't have a solid understanding of the various ethics laws that surround the government? >> i think after the 13th investigation, we know there is at least 13. we can conclude his knowledge of law and ethics is a

generally conservatives like the scott —— john scott pruitt was doing, he came from oklahoma, a big oil and gas state, he was an attorney general there. he came into the epa and proceeded to roll back a lot of the regulations that barack 0bama and his administration implement it, particularly the ones governing power plant at the lack of emissions in an attempt to address climate change. the fuel efficiency standards on cars, regulation of workplaces and businesses, environmental revelations of them. so he was taking an axe to all of these regulations, trimming personnel within the epa, reducing their authority. that's what conservatives want, he was doing his job there. but what was frustrating for donald trump and a lot of other conservatives was that all of the scandals that were going on with it we re scandals that were going on with it were detracting from his efforts, and they were going against the slogan that donald trump had about draining the swamp here in washington. if you bring someone in who is abusing his power to the line his pockets and enjoy the powers of his pockets a

scott pruitt and his staff have chosen not to respond. drew griffin, cnn, atlanta. >> that spells it out in one piece, how does scott pruitt survi survive. how does pruitt survive these scandals? david chalian, surely there is someone else qualified to dismantle the environmental regulations that president trump could pick the lead the epa how is scott pruitt surviving? the reason he's been able to survive is he is implementing and executing on a policy prescription that very much matches donald trump and a lot of his supporters' agenda. so he's following through day to day with accomplishing the roleback of regulations as you say. what it does, though, of course, is it pits it against this pledge to drain the swamp so you have the swampiest of swamp creatures apparently we're learning more and more each day that he is that. he is achieving a policy that the president wants to see implemented. >> this is so far beyond the swamp. it's like a tsunami meets a swamp. it's a swampnami. >> is there spelunking? >> you watch the drew piece, there

w we probablyld have said scott pruitt. a lot of us work at places that have been running articles predicting john kelly's hayesy exit. and it turns out that it was john kelly who administered the death blow to pruitt. he's still exerting influence and stbll has the at critical moments to say, mr. president, this has gone faren gh. >> can the democrats take the pruitt w controversies, takt the e.p.a. has done and make it a midterm issue or does thi fade with the president's trip to europe with the president me making a supourt pick? >> i think it stays. the europe trip and court nominee will consume our attention. butoc dts will continue to hammer home that look, the president promised to clean it up. and this seems to be aswampy as it gets. that is a message you will hear. i don'txpect confirmation battle over a permanent replacement of the e.p.a. any time soo because andrew wheeler is sure to carry out the policys that were alrea part of the reason why senate republicans re more confident when they started to speak out ab

he has been a scoop machine covering the scott pruitt saga. let's answer the million-dollar question. with all that scott pruitt has gone through, what changed so that he steps down now? >> two things shifted. the early stories were about wasteful spending. first class travel, security spending that seemed excessive. in recent weeks we shifted to things that were quite more serious and potentially serious ethics violations. so it turns pout the $50 a night condo that he was living in, there was a lobbyist who is the spouse of the owner of the condo who was repeatedly lobbying pruitt while he was living in the condo even though we were told that was not true. to have a relationship with someone targeting you and gotten a discounted rent. then we have him asking staff member to get his wife a job. most recent when i the story we published today, it turns out that apparently his schedule was being changed to modify events that they did not want in the public's view. to make a change in a record, if you're modifying federal records to cover up som