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Scott Pruitt resigns at EPA; Andrew Wheeler to take over

Pruitt has faced a litany of ethics-violation allegations. His successor is a former coal lobbyist.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned.Read morePablo Martinez Monsivais / AP, File
    by Michael Boren
    Updated 
    Published 

Scott Pruitt, the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has resigned, President Trump tweeted Thursday.

Trump said deputy administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, would replace Pruitt.

Pruitt, who began his role in February 2017, has faced a litany of federal probes and allegations of ethics violations, including:

  1. Enlisting his security detail to pick up his favorite moisturizing lotion from the Ritz-Carlton hotels and fetch his dry cleaning

  2. Telling an aide to hunt for a used Trump hotel mattress

  3. Having an aide help his wife find a job with Chick-fil-A

  4. Having a $43,000 private phone booth installed in his office (The Government Accountability Office found Pruitt had violated federal laws by doing this).

  5. Pushing staffers to find a six-figure job for his wife at a politically connected group

  6. Spending more than $100,000 to fly first-class

>> Read more: Not caring about Pruitt's EPA scandals helps us not care that the planet is on fire | Will Bunch

In his resignation letter, Pruitt cited "the unrelenting attacks" that were taking a toll on him and his family.

Pruitt previously served as Oklahoma attorney general, a role in which he repeatedly sued the EPA. Environmental groups expressed dismay when he was tapped to lead the federal agency, and Pruitt has since sought to roll back various environmental regulations, including Obama-era car emission standards.

Pruitt is the latest member of the Trump administration to either resign or be fired.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was ousted in March.

David Shulkin, a Philadelphia-based doctor who served as Veterans Affairs secretary, was also fired that month. The VA's internal watchdog concluded that Shulkin had improperly accepted Wimbledon tennis tickets and that his then-chief of staff had doctored emails to justify his wife traveling to Europe with him at taxpayer expense.

Ronny L. Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy and White House physician whom Trump nominated to replace Shulkin, withdrew his nomination amid complaints over inappropriate work conduct.