US President Donald Trump has announced the departure of his environment chief, Scott Pruitt, who faced ever-growing scandals over his spending and conduct in office.
"I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency," Trump tweeted. "Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this."
Trump announced that Pruitt's deputy, former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, would take over Monday as acting head of the agency that the president has tasked with dismantling Barack Obama's green legacy.
In a resignation letter cited by CNN, Mr Pruitt said: “it has been an honour to serve in the Cabinet”. He wrote he was resigning due to ‘unrelenting’ personal attacks.
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“Truly, your confidence in me has blessed me personally and enabled me to advance your agenda beyond what anyone anticipated at the beginning of your Administration,” it read.
“Your courage, steadfastness and resolute commitment to get results for the American people, both with regard to improved environmental outcomes as well as historical regulatory reform, is, in fact, occurring at an unprecedented pace and I thank you for the opportunity to serve you and the American people in helping achieve those ends.
“It is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role first because I count it a blessing to be serving you in any capacity, but also, because of the transformative work that is occurring. However, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us.”
The president also announced that Bill Shine, a former Fox News executive, was joining the White House as deputy chief of staff for communications.
Shine, 55, was appointed co-president of the US television news network in August 2016, following the abrupt resignation of its chief Roger Ailes in the face of a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Shine resigned in May 2017 over questions concerning his handling of the Ailes case and accusations that he had helped cover up alleged misbehaviour.
Shine was the third key figure to leave Fox in a year. The channel also ended its relationship with star anchor Bill O'Reilly following reports that millions of dollars had been paid to settle allegations of sexual harassment.
Shine "brings over two decades of television programming, communications, and management experience to the role," the White House said in a statement.
The White House job of director of communications has been vacant since the departure in March of top aide Hope Hicks.
