Meanwhile, two top EPA officials have resigned over a mounting series of scandals involving Scott Pruitt, who faces more than a dozen ethics investigations. EPA scheduler Millan Hupp will step down amid reports she helped Pruitt go apartment hunting and helped him shop for a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel. Also resigning is Pruitt’s senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt, who traveled internationally and across the U.S. with Pruitt as he met with industry officials and foreign diplomats. On Wednesday, Elaina Plott, a journalist with The Atlantic, reported she was castigated by EPA spokesperson Jahan Wilcox when she asked for comment on the resignations. Wilcox reportedly told Plott, “You’re a piece of trash.” This all came as President Trump praised the EPA’s embattled leader Wednesday during a Cabinet meeting at FEMA’s headquarters in Washington.

President Donald Trump: “Administrator Scott Pruitt, thank you, Scott, very much. EPA is doing really, really well. And, you know, somebody has to say that about you a little bit. You know that, Scott.”