Not Parody: After Failing To Sink Him, Media Attacks Pruitt's Eating Habits
There is little dispute to the fact that Scott Pruitt, the fourteenth Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is at the top of the progressive left’s hit-list of Trump administration officials they want to take down.
Pruitt was no fan of the EPA when he served as Attorney General of Oklahoma, and has set about slashing countless regulations he viewed as overreaching or unnecessary since taking control of the agency, which has invited tremendous fire from those who seek to protect the EPA’s progressive agenda.
As such, Pruitt has been smeared with media-driven “scandals” since his confirmation, from his use of armed bodyguards (to protect against incessant death threats), to his accommodations upon first arriving in Washington, D.C. (an ethics committee ruled he’d done nothing wrong), to even his flying first class (in order to separate himself from hecklers who harass him in coach class).
None of those, or a myriad of other “scandals,” have succeeded in bringing Pruitt down in disgrace, as he still maintains the public support of President Donald Trump, but that hasn’t stopped his detractors or the liberal media from continuing to try.
Politico published an absurd report on Wednesday, which cited anonymous sources as complaining that Pruitt dined at a U.S. Navy-operated “Mess” restaurant in the White House on a far too frequent basis.
The sources went so far as to allege that Pruitt had even received a warning from unnamed White House officials that the Navy mess wasn’t to be treated as a personal dining hall or used every day, though he was welcome to dine there from time to time.
Unnamed allies of Pruitt disputed that he had ever received such a warning, and both the White House and EPA declined to offer any sort of comment for Politico’s ludicrous report. It is worth noting that there is no cafeteria, restaurant or private dining facilities in the EPA building, which is located just a few blocks away from the White House.
The report also cited a billing statement from July 2017 that had been disclosed via a Freedom of Information Act request by the decidedly anti-Pruitt Sierra Club environmental group, which showed Pruitt had made nine trips to the Navy-run restaurant over the course of that month, and showed the pricing for the items he had ordered.
That FOIA request also obtained records, which showed that Pruitt had invited friends from Oklahoma to accompany him on some of his lunch trips to the White House — visits that weren’t always documented on Pruitt’s official calendar, which was also obtained.
Just one day after that Politico report was published, The Daily Beast published its own ridiculous hit piece on a separate food-related “scandal” that had the potential to bring Pruitt down.
Again relying on anonymous sources, it was alleged that Pruitt routinely — some said “constant,” others stated “frequently” — sent staffers to run personal errands for him, such as picking up a variety of snack foods for him to munch on.
Those “scandalous” snacks included such treats as cookies, Greek yogurt, sweet candy and protein bars. One unnamed staffer proclaimed, “I can’t tell you how many times I was sent out to get protein bars on the orders of (Pruitt).”
Aside from the snack foods, anonymous sources also alleged that Pruitt had ordered them to run such mundane errands as picking up his dry-cleaning, procuring a special hand lotion only available at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, inquiring about the purchase of a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel or looking into the purchase of a Chick-fil-A franchise in the area for Pruitt’s wife.
The report also alleged that an untold number of aides and staffers have already quit or are on the verge of quitting, as the work environment under Pruitt’s leadership was described as a “hell hole” by disgruntled EPA employees, who are no doubt distressed at the changes Pruitt is making to their agency.
Asked for comment on all of these allegations, an EPA spokesperson only stated in an email, “EPA will not be commenting on anonymous sources who are working to distract Americans from Administrator Pruitt’s accomplishments on regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship.”
The progressive left and liberal media have worked hard to take down Pruitt with a plethora of “scandals,” all of which have failed thus far, but as can be seen from the above reports, they haven’t given up just yet, as they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for any dirt they can find to use against him, including his “scandalous” eating habits.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
