President Donald Trump must back his embattled Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, The Wall Street Journal says in an editorial published Friday.
"Donald Trump demands loyalty up the chain of command, but loyalty down has been another matter. The latest test … will be whether Mr. Trump stands behind Scott Pruitt as Washington's green political machine tries to oust [him] for supposedly grave ethics offenses," the conservative newspaper says.
"Mr. Pruitt's real sin is that he is one of Mr. Trump's most aggressive reformers, taking on green idols that others would bow before. … All of this has made Mr. Pruitt a target of the ruling iron triangle of bureaucrats, interest groups and the press."
The Journal dismisses the flap over Pruitt's first-class air flights, as well as $120,000 for him and his security detail to visit Italy last summer for a G-7 meeting and $40,000 for a trip to Morocco. It calls a Pruitt's rental of a condo for $50 a night from a lobbyist a "non-issue."
"The large turnover in Mr. Trump's cabinet and White House has been unusual, and the way many have been treated (Tom Price at Health and Human Services, H.R. McMaster as national security adviser) makes anyone with talent reluctant to serve. If Mr. Trump throws Mr. Pruitt over the side, good luck finding someone as brave to replace him," the Journal says.
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