Scott Pruitt should've been fired '28 scandals ago,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren says

William Cummings USA TODAY

Published 3:46 p.m. UTC Jul 6, 2018

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was unsparing in her criticism of outgoing Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt Thursday.

"A man who doesn’t believe in climate change never should have been in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency in the first place," Warren told The Hill. "And a government official that corrupt should have been fired by the President of the United States 28 scandals ago."

Pruitt, whose time at the head of the EPA has been plagued by a series of ethics scandals and investigations, submitted his resignation President Donald Trump said Thursday. Those scandals and corruption allegations have made the EPA a prominent target for the administration's critics. In Pruitt's resignation letter, Pruitt said the "unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us."

On social media, Warren added that Pruitt had become "the poster boy for corruption in Washington — repeatedly using his government office to benefit himself, his family and his Big Oil buddies."

Warren said she was concerned about Trump's announcement that Pruitt's deputy, Andrew Wheeler, would replace him. She called Wheeler "a longtime Washington insider and corporate lawyer who’s done the bidding of fossil fuel companies for decades," according to The Hill.

The Massachusetts progressive was herself an object of derision Thursday, with Trump offering to donate $1 million to Warren's favorite charity if she will take a DNA test. Trump has often attacked Warren and mocked her as "Pocahontas" for claiming to be part Native American.

In response to Trump, Warren tweeted: "While you obsess over my genes, your Admin is conducting DNA tests on little kids because you ripped them from their mamas & you are too incompetent to reunite them in time to meet a court order. Maybe you should focus on fixing the lives you're destroying."

Warren was not the only Democratic lawmaker celebrating Pruitt's departure.

"Took you long enough," tweeted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "Still a long way to go to fully #DrainTheSwamp."

"One down with the resignation of @EPAScottPruitt, dozens more to go until we’ve drained the swamp of the Trump Admin’s toxic culture and corruption," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"About. Damn. Time," tweeted Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

"Scott Pruitt resigned because he was unusually greedy and weird with his corruption but his worst transgression was that he systematically worked on behalf of polluters to poison our air and our water and make climate change worse," said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.

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