President Donald Trump has said Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt resigned of his own accord and there was “no final straw”.
Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday en route to Montana that Mr Pruitt “did an outstanding job”.
I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2018
Mr Pruitt’s management of the agency has prompted a series of investigations.
Mr Trump said: “He came to me and said I have such great confidence in the administration I don’t want to be a distraction.”
Mr Trump said they had been talking about Mr Pruitt’s exit for a “little while”, adding: “He’ll go and do great things.”
Mr Trump tweeted earlier that Mr Pruitt had resigned to be replaced by acting administrator Andrew Wheeler.
Mr Pruitt had denied wrongdoing in the face of multiple congressional and oversight inquiries.
Despite the scandals, Mr Trump has been approving of Mr Pruitt’s efforts to reduce regulations that the administration says curb business growth.
Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: “Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job.”
Activists have argued those cuts have endangered the environment.
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