Trump Resists Mounting Pressure To Fire Scandal-Struck EPA Chief Scott Pruitt

President Donald Trump has doubled down on his support for Scott Pruitt , resisting mounting pressure week to fire the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency .

In a series of tweets over two days, he signaled strong support for Pruitt, whom he said was under siege. On Friday, the president blamed the reporters who this week broke a series of stories detailing Pruitts living arrangements, spending and management of the agency, intensifying accusations of corruption and government waste.

Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2018","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Donald J. Trump","author_url":"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump","cache_age":86400,"description":"Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2018\n\n","provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Donald J. 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Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2018

On Saturday, the president defended Pruitts seven-figure spending on security, insisting as Fox News reported that the administrator faced death threats, and saying, incorrectly , that Pruitts $50-a-night room in a luxury Capitol Hill condo was about market rate.

While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!

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While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018

The second tweet came a day after The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times published reports detailing White House Chief of Staff John Kellys efforts over the past two weeks to convince Trump to fire Pruitt over the ongoing scandals. But, at a White House briefing that afternoon, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders noted that no one other than the president has the authority to hire and fire members of his Cabinet.

Right now I dont have any personnel announcement, she added.

At least three Republican House members joined Democrats and environmental groups this week to demand Pruitts ouster amid a firestorm over his sweetheart deal to rent a room in a luxury townhouse linked to a lobbyist whose clients had business before the EPA. The EPA ethics office retroactively approved the arrangement, but struggled to defend the administrator as new details rapidly emerged.

Criticism of Pruitt intensified after reports published Thursday accused the administrator of trying to abuse his vehicles emergency sirens to cut through traffic and of reassigning, demoting or forcing out EPA officials who challenged his unusually large spending . Other reports this week accused Pruitt of using a loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act to give two political appointees raises after the White House rejected his original request. Pruitt denied the reports in a blistering Fox News interview.

The latest scandals follow months of scrutiny into the cost of Pruitts first-class travel. He routinely spent more than $2,000 on flights to his home state of Oklahoma, and to interviews and events in New York City.

But Pruitts conservative allies mounted a vigorous defense. On Wednesday, Mollie Hemingway, a senior editor at the right-wing Federalist, called Pruitt Trumps biggest asset in a column , and warned the president that ousting him would be a huge victory for his opponents. On Thursday, FreedomWorks, the libertarian campaign group founded by fossil fuel billionaires Charles and David Koch, launched a dial-in effort, urging supporters to call the White House and champion Pruitt against a smear campaign by the radical left. On Friday, The Wall Street Journals editorial board advised the president to show some loyalty to his leading reformer, calling his decision on the administrators future Trumps Pruitt Test.