Van Jones Says Scott Pruitt is Implementing ‘Child-Killing Deregulations’ and Should Be Fired

CNN host Van Jones unleashed a fiery rebuke of embattled Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt during a tense exchange on CNN Saturday afternoon with Myron Ebell, President Donald Trump’s former transition chief of the EPA.

Jones said Pruitt’s track record in office includes “major crimes against the country,” including “poisoning America’s air and water.”

“Listen, he is a pro-pollution administrator,” Jones said after suggesting Pruitt should be fired. “This is a guy who is, in the name of trying to go after job-killing regulation, is ramming through child-killing deregulation, increasing the amount of pollution, the amount of poison in American air and water, which means more asthma attacks for kids, more cancer for kids. That’s his agenda.”

The comments arrived on Saturday after a horrible week of headlines for the head of the federal agency; numerous scandals, and reports indicating White House Chief of Staff John Kelly wants him out of the administration, have dominated the news cycle as Trump appears to be contemplating his role.

Bell provided defense for Pruitt, claiming the “air is getting cleaner” and the EPA chief has been effective in his position, which is why Democrats want him fired.

“Scott Pruitt is the first person who has tried to reform the EPA since early in the Reagan administration,” he said. “If he is taken out, it’s going to be very hard in the current political situation to get someone anywhere near as good and as committed to the president’s agenda as Scott Pruitt is.”

Watch a clip of the exchange via CNN above.

[image via screengrab]

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