During Monday's edition of CNN's New Day, co-host Chris Cuomo painted a picture of "obvious chaos" in the White House, in addition to accusing "Captain Benghazi" Trey Gowdy of not showing enough urgency when it comes to investigating alleged wrongdoing by Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Scott Pruitt.
This particular segment on the morning show, which has a tendency to focus on palace intrigue, discussed rumors that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly wanted President Trump to fire Pruitt, who has come under scrutiny for renting a condo in the District of Columbia from a lobbyist for $50 a night in addition to spending an “inordinate amount of money” on his security detail. Appearing on the Sunday shows over the weekend, three Republican Senators expressed disappointment in Pruitt’s behavior.
Co-host Alisyn Camerota then mentioned that Trey Gowdy, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has announced his plans to investigate Pruitt’s behavior. Cuomo panned Gowdy’s actions as inadequate: “But wasn’t there a big (yawn) for Captain Benghazi, wasn’t there a big (yawn)? You know, look, I mean, they went after that with such an aggression, right?” According to Cuomo, “they’ve had a month to get documentation from Pruitt. They haven’t gotten it and Gowdy’s like ‘Yeah, we should get around to this.’”
When Cuomo asked panelist John Avlon why Gowdy conducted the Benghazi investigation with such urgency, Avlon explained that the whole investigation was “political.” Cuomo agreed with Avlon’s analysis: “That’s the point.”
The panelists ultimately disagreed on Pruitt’s fate. Avlon suggested that Pruitt has caused “a number of self-inflicted wounds in a short period of time,” adding that “he’s got problems from policy to these pesky ethical concerns that keep piling up. The President can say he supports him but the fact pattern doesn’t look good for Scott Pruitt.” On the other hand, David Gregory expressed doubt that Pruitt’s days as EPA Secretary are numbered, citing his status as a “darling of the right.”
The segment concluded with a discussion about a Buzzfeed reporter’s FOIA request to the EPA for any death threats against Pruitt, which he cites as the justification for his security detail. The EPA responded to the request by saying they did not have any records. Cuomo closed the segment by saying that President Trump has the final word about what happens to Scott Pruitt, adding “He’s sweated so much talent at this point, that each one that...leaves now makes Trump look bad.”
The media hope that President Trump gives Pruitt the axe, as it will allow them to continue peddling the narrative that America has “a White House in chaos.”
CNN New Day
04/09/18
06:19 AM
ALISYN CAMEROTA: President Trump denying reports that Chief of Staff John Kelly’s influence has been diminished somehow. This comes as his embattled EPA Chief Scott Pruitt hangs on despite growing opposition even from Republican lawmakers. So let’s discuss this with CNN Political Analysts David Gregory and John Avlon. So John Avlon, let’s start with John Kelly. So there, these reports that on March 28th, so recently, John Kelly was so frustrated that Mattis and Nielsen, Homeland Security Secretary, had to calm him down.
JOHN AVLON: Yeah.
CAMEROTA: He has grown quite flummoxed by the lack of, I guess, control in the White House that he has. What are we to make of this?
AVLON: Flummoxed. I mean, he apparently had a, you know, little mini-intervention by his friends to say “don’t get too frustrated, don’t get so frustrated you’re thinking about quitting.” Apparently, he went home that day a little early and said “I’m out of here.” And some people interpreted that as a threat to quit. Look, being Chief of Staff to President Trump has got to be one of the worst, most powerful jobs in the world. Because you’re only as good as Chief of Staff as the confidence your, your, you know, the President gives you. But Trump doesn’t want to be mansion, managed. He needs to be managed but he doesn’t want to be. So there’s a natural tension there. Kelly had been really controlling access, now Trump is allegedly trying to throw that off. And those friction points at some point will explode. I don’t think it would be a good thing for the Trump White House if Kelly went out the door though.
CHRIS CUOMO: David Gregory, I’ve been on vacation. So help me, remind me, why do we care so much about each of the incremental machinations of what is obvious chaos in the White House? They can deny it all they want. We know it’s not true. We know there’s dysfunction, we know that they have problems there. But, you know, going into each new iteration of it, where does it get us?
DAVID GREGORY: Well, I don’t think it gets us very far. But I, but I think there is, you know, as I always say, part of this dysfunction becomes more serious and, you know, less amusing when you’re facing a crisis like Syria. You’re looking at the prospect of US intervention because there again, process matters, decision making matters. And what you’ve got is this cycle of a Chief of Staff who’s very frustrated by the fact that the Chief Executive is taking control of decisions, keeping him out of the loop. Obviously is, he himself, Trump himself is feeding questions of whether Kelly still has influence by the actions he takes or by leaks that he the President makes himself. And so there’s this kind of fighting back and forth. And, you know, ultimately, if you are a member of Congress or the Congressional leadership, if you’re a foreign leader, you know, you have to wonder who’s really speaking for the President, who’s really in control in the White House. Who has real influence over the White House? And I think these things do tend to matter. I think this idea that the President likes to have a kind of chaotic management style means he likes to keep everybody guessing and he feeds this kind of frustration where, you know, Kelly is so frustrated that he wants to walk out the door and there’s no question it’s happened on numerous instances so, you know, all of this flux means it’s harder for the President to have a good process to decide big things.
CAMEROTA: Because you’ve been on vacation, I’ll bring you up to speed.
CUOMO: Please.
CAMEROTA: Scott Pruitt is embattled.
CUOMO: And where is he again?
CAMEROTA: He’s at EPA, EPA Chief.
CUOMO: He’s the one who used to attack, he used to, he’s the guy who used to attack all the environmental protections when he was the attorney general in Oklahoma.
CAMEROTA: Still does.
CUOMO: But now he’s in charge.
CAMEROTA: But he’s embattled because he’s spending an inordinate amount of money, even on his personal security detail.
CUOMO: Except on where he stays. There he gets a real basement bargain.
CAMEROTA: Right!
CUOMO: Now I’m back.
CAMEROTA: Okay. And he’s back. So, even Republican lawmakers, this weekend, on the Sunday shows were expressing their misgivings. Here they are.
SENATOR JOHN KENNEDY: Now these are unforced errors. They’re stupid. There are a lot of problems we can’t solve. But you can behave. I’m not, I don’t mean to denigrate Mr. Pruitt but doggone it, he represents the President of the United States and it is hurting his boss and it needs to stop.
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: I think he’s done a good job but I’m looking to see what the Oversight Committee is going to say. The one thing I can say if you’re the EPA Administrator and two lobbyists change the locks, you’ve got a problem.
SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS: On policy grounds alone, I think Scott Pruitt is the wrong person to head the EPA.
CAMEROTA: All right, well, John Avlon, Trey Gowdy, on the Oversight Committee, we had him on last week and he said that he was going to begin looking into this. He has now...
CUOMO: But wasn’t there a big (yawn) for Captain Benghazi, wasn’t there a big (yawn)? You know, look, I mean, they went after that with such an aggression, right?
AVLON: Yeah, of course.
CUOMO: And here, he says, “Well, I don’t like these kinds of allegations.” But then, they’ve had a month to get documentation from Pruitt. They haven’t gotten it and Gowdy’s like, “Yeah, we should get around to this.”
CAMEROTA: But now they’re ratcheting it up, supposedly.
AVLON: I’m just digging Captain Benghazi.
CAMEROTA: Me too.
CUOMO: The urgency there, I mean, what was that about?
AVLON: No, no, no. Political.
CUOMO: That’s the point.
AVLON: But Pruitt’s caused a number of self-inflicted wounds in a short period of time. I mean, that particular relay race goes to Scott Pruitt. The latest is, he’s got 19 people on a 24/7 security detail. 19 vehicles, baseline salary $2 million at a time when the budget for the EPA is being cut. These are not good facts. And, you know, and you know, God bless Senator John Kennedy and Lindsey Graham for kind of laying in and some folksy common sense. But he’s got problems from policy to these pesky ethical concerns that keep piling up. The President can say he supports him but the fact pattern doesn’t look good for Scott Pruitt.
GREGORY: Yeah but I would look at it differently. I mean, I think he’s been through a really rough week and if the worst thing that can happens over the weekend is, like, “Wow, that was just really bad that you did that and those were unforced errors and it’s really got to stop.” That is not like “he’s got to go.” And we know the President is defending him. I don’t know. I don’t see what pushes him out in this Administration. I think he would be gone in a different Administration but if the President is digging in...
AVLON: Any other Administration.
GREGORY: Right. Right. Let’s remember, let’s remember that this is still a darling of the right for what he’s doing on regulation in an election year and I think the President’s support for him thus far matters and here’s another thing about Kelly. Kelly has reportedly wanted him out and has not won that round. I don’t know. I think Pruitt may be safe for now.
CAMEROTA: Just one last curious thing. And that is that this Buzzfeed reporter filed a FOIA request to try to get, to see the threats that had been made against Scott Pruitt because if he’s under so many threats and he needs all of this beefed-up security at a high taxpayer cost. So here’s the tweet “I had filed a FOIA with EPA for any records of death threats made against Scott Pruitt. EPA said it had zero records.”
AVLON: Yeah. This is Jason Leopold, who’s a self-described FOIA ninja, a very good reporter. You know, if all of a sudden, I mean Christine Todd Whitman walked to work when she was EPA Secretary under Bush after 9/11. So this is a relevant inquiry by, by Jason Leopold and came back goose eggs so...
CUOMO: But again, let’s say you find out Leopold’s right. There are no records. This was fabricated. It’s still up to Trump. If he wants him in there and likes what he’s doing, he’s sweated so much talent at this point, that each one that loses now, that leaves now makes Trump look bad.
CAMEROTA: For sure, it’s still good for taxpayers to know whether or not this justifies spending.
