Ex-Trump Adviser Lashes Out at Panelist in Defense of Pruitt: ‘It’s Basically Character Assassination’

Things got a little heated on CNN’s OutFront with Erin Burnett  Thursday, when contributor Stephen Moore faced off with The Nation‘s National Affairs Correspondent Joan Walsh over EPA Chief Scott Pruitt.

The question? What Pruitt knew and when he knew it.

When he appeared on Fox News last week, Pruitt claimed to be unaware of raises given to two of his top aides, but speaking on Capitol Hill Thursday, Pruitt admitted that he did, in fact, know about the raises; he just didn’t know the amounts.

The EPA chief’s revised story sent shock waves through the media and the public, with Pruitt’s line of reported scandals already raising intense criticism among his opponents who say it’s time for him to step down.

But Moore, who is also an ex-adviser for President Donald Trump and continues to serve as such in an informal capacity, implied it was slanderous.

“I think what’s going on in Washington, D.C. in the last couple of months has just been disgraceful,” he told Burnett Thursday night. “I mean, it’s basically character assassination of one good person after another. What happened to Ronny Jackson, I think people are just so horrified by this kind of treatment. And you know, look, let’s be very clear about why liberals are putting up this fight against Scott Pruitt. Because he doesn’t drink the kool-aid of climate change. And he doesn’t believe in this religion. And because of that, they are trying to destroy him.”

Moore, an outspoken conservative, continued defending Pruitt, calling him “good” and “honorable,” but Walsh didn’t see it that way.

“Nobody on the left made Scott Pruitt install a $43,000 phone booth, cone of silence in his office,” she shot back, referencing his controversial actions. “Nobody made him travel first class. Nobody made him first tell Ed Henry one story about a set of pretty extreme raises, and now tell a committee the other story. You had

Greg Walden

, a conservative Republican, today criticizing Scott Pruitt. Nobody on the left is making him do this. I’m surprised you’re taking this tack, because it’s as though you can’t find a guy who’s tough on climate change or pro-drilling who doesn’t have these kinds of ethical problems.”

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

[Image via screengrab]

Follow Amy Russo on Twitter: @amymrusso

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