EPA chief Scot Pruitt, another of Trump’s high picks, resigns over ethics violation

Washington, July 6: He was also one of the high picks of Donald Trump, the president of the United States, at the beginning of his journey and as it was with a number of other officials, Scott Pruitt's choice as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was highly controversial.

And finally, 50-year Pruitt resigned under a cloud of ethics violations, saying the "unrelenting attacks" on him and his family took a "sizable toll" on all of them. He, nevertheless, praised President Trump saying he believed the latter was serving as the president because of God's providence while the incumbent, too, eulogised the former on Twitter saying Pruitt had done an "outstanding job" in the EPA.

Andrew Wheeler, Pruitt's deputy, was set to take up the reins on Monday, July 9.

Pruitt, who was the attorney general of Oklahoma before his tenure at the EPA began, faced criticism over issues like using public money for travel and office improvements; using an obscure clause of the Safe Drinking Water Act to hike pay to two aides and also paying $50 a night to rent a room in a Capitol Hill condo from the spouse of an energy industry lobbyist.