Fox News to discipline employees who provided topics to Trump EPA chief before interview

Fox News is planning to discipline employees who provided pre-interview questions to an aide for former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt before he appeared on the network in 2017. 

The news network said it would discipline employees who were involved in the email exchange with the aide, according to The Associated Press.

{mosads}A Fox News Channel spokesperson confirmed the report to The Hill. The network did not provide details on who was being disciplined.

The step comes in response to a report from the Daily Beast on Tuesday that included emails between producers at “Fox & Friends” and an aide to Pruitt. 

The emails, which were first obtained by the Sierra Club, show that producers contacted Pruitt about appearing on the popular morning program in 2017. 

The emails reveal that Pruitt’s team played a large part in what topics would be discussed on the show and what would be asked. They also show that Pruitt was given pre-interview questions. 

“Would this be OK as the setup to his segment?” producer Dianna Aloi asked in one email, which contained a script used by host Brian Kilmeade to introduce Pruitt on the show.

The Daily Beast reported that six of the eight questions Pruitt was asked directly related to pre-interview questions or topics discussed with Pruitt’s aides beforehand.

A spokeswoman for Fox News said that what took place between producers and Pruitt “is not standard practice whatsoever and the matter is being addressed internally with those involved.”

Pruitt resigned from his position in the EPA in July. His exit came after he was involved in a series of high-profile scandals related to his spending and management of EPA resources.