Pruitt in 2016: Trump ‘would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama’

by Rebecca Savransky - 01/30/18 11:11 AM ET

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt predicted in 2016 that then-candidate Donald Trump would be “more abusive” to the Constitution if he won the White House than President Obama.

“I believe that Donald Trump in the White House would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama — and that’s saying a lot,” Pruitt said during a February 2016 interview on “The Pat Campbell Show” in Tulsa, Okla.

An audio recording of the interview was released Tuesday by the watchdog group Documented, which says it “investigates how corporations manipulate public policy that harms our environment, communities and democracy.”

At the time, Pruitt was working as a policy adviser to GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush and serving as Oklahoma’s attorney general. {mosads}

He predicted at the time that if Trump was elected, he would take “unapologetic steps, to use executive power to confront Congress in a way that is truly unconstitutional.”

“Donald Trump has said many, many times … I’ll do this I’ll do that. And those things that he’s mentioned cannot be done,” he said during the interview.

“I think executive orders with Donald Trump would be a very blunt instrument with respect to the Constitution.”

Pruitt responded to reports about the audio recording, saying in a statement to The Hill that his views of the president changed after meeting Trump.

“After meeting him, and now having the honor of working for him, it is abundantly clear that President Trump is the most consequential leader of our time,” Pruitt said. “No one has done more to advance the rule of law than President Trump. The President has liberated our country from the political class and given America back to the people.”

Since taking over as administrator in February, Pruitt has reshaped the EPA’s agenda, with a heavy focus on rolling back initiatives from the Obama administration.

He has also moved to downsize the EPA and has made major changes to the agency’s science advisory boards.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) asked Pruitt at a Tuesday hearing whether he recalled the interview, specifically asking about the statement that Trump “would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama.”

“I don’t, senator,” Pruitt said at the hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “And I don’t echo that today at all.”

Timothy Cama and Miranda Green contributed to this report

Updated at 1:08 p.m.