US EPA chief Scott Pruitt forced out amid scandals

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt has resigned, amid more than a dozen separate investigations over spending, ethics and management.

In a resignation letter released by the EPA, Pruitt said he was stepping down because of “unrelenting attacks on me personally, [and] my family”, which are “unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us.”

However, the Washington Post reports that Pruitt was told by the White House that he “had to submit his resignation”, and that Trump did not speak with Pruitt personally.

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Trump later told reporters that the decision to resign had been Pruitt’s, and that there was “no final straw” that led to the decision.

“He came to me and said, ‘I have such great confidence in the administration. I don’t want to be a distraction,’” Trump said. “And I think Scott felt that he was a distraction.”

CNN says “an ethics cloud hung over Pruitt for months”, with lawmakers from both parties raising questions about his spending, housing arrangements, personal security detail and large pay rises for political appointees.

Pruitt was being investigated over his rental of a furnished room in a townhouse close to the US Capitol for $50 a night. The building is owned by the wife of an energy industry lobbyist.

The former EPA chief was also under investigation for lavish spending on office improvements, including “$5,800 on thumb-print security locks, $1,560 for 12 fountain pens and $43,000 for a soundproof phone booth”, the BBC says.

Senator Thomas Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, hailed Pruitt’s departure, saying: “He’s done a lot of damage. It can be reversed, but it’s going to take some time.”