It looks like Donald Trump has finally decided to sacrifice Scott Pruitt
Even as EPA boss Scott Pruitt’s corruption scandals have become more cartoonish and problematic for the troubled Trump administration, the question has been why Donald Trump hasn’t simply forced him to resign in order to make the problem go away. After all, we’ve seen Trump sacrifice another cabinet member, HHS boss Tom Price, for a far less headache-inducing scandal. Now it looks like Trump has finally decided to sacrifice Pruitt after all.
There have long been leaks to the media claiming that Donald Trump has been keeping Scott Pruitt around in case he ever works up the nerve to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and needs a viable replacement. We’ve never put much stock in this theory, both because Trump knows the GOP Senate won’t let him get away with firing their pal Sessions, and because the extraordinarily scandalous Pruitt would have a uniquely difficult time surviving Attorney General confirmation hearings.
If Trump does have a “Plan B” to replace Sessions, we can’t imagine that Scott Pruitt is it; Trump would need someone far less controversial to have even a slight chance of successfully replacing Sessions. But today a very different kind of leak has surfaced. Three people familiar with the matter have told CNN that Pruitt previously asked Trump to install him in Sessions’ place. Today’s leak could only have come from Pruitt or from Trump.
There is no logical reason why Scott Pruitt would leak that he unsuccessfully lobbied Donald Trump to install him in place of Jeff Sessions. However, there is a very logical reason why Trump would leak this: to make Pruitt look like he’s power-mad and out of control, as a precursor for forcing him out. While this is still developing, it sure looks like Trump has decided to sacrifice Pruitt after all, in order to make Pruitt’s scandals go away, and Trump is softening up the ground first.
