Sen. Mike Rounds on Sunday defended Scott Pruitt, the embattled Environmental Protection Agency administrator, saying Mr. Pruitt is following through on President Trump’s agenda amid “nitpicking” on other matters.
“He’s following through with what the policies the president said he wanted to implement,” the South Dakota Republican said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“In this particular case, Mr. Pruitt has been doing a good job,” Mr. Rounds said, saying reports of a series of alleged ethical lapses on the part of Mr. Pruitt could be overblown.
Mr. Pruitt is under fire amid a series of news reports documenting a $50-a-night deal he secured to rent a Capitol Hill condominium from the wife of an oil industry lobbyist, his use of a security detail for personal use, and the reported punishing of EPA staffers who tried to question some of the department’s spending.
“We’ll nitpick little things - he has too many people on his security detail,” Mr. Rounds said. “It may add up to more than what the previous guy did.”
“But what about the big picture of how he’s taking care of the taxpayers’ dollars with the department, the EPA, and what about the regulations that he said he’s going to clean up on that he is?” he said.
Meanwhile Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, said that on policy grounds alone, she thinks Mr. Pruitt is the wrong person to head the EPA.
“This daily drip of accusations of excessive spending and ethical violations serve to further distract the agency from accomplishing its very important mission,” Ms. Collins said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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