Doug Jones: People are ‘frustrated’ with Cabinet members and Pruitt ‘is in real trouble’

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) said on Sunday that people are frustrated with President Trump’s Cabinet secretaries and that he thinks the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) administrator, Scott Pruitt, might be on his way out.

“I think he is in real trouble. I think that there is a perception that is not good at all,” Jones said about Pruitt on ABC’s “This Week” when asked if Pruitt should resign.

The EPA chief has faced continuing criticism for his use of taxpayer funds. Pruitt has been under scrutiny for traveling first-class on international flights for a number of expensive trips and for installing expensive security measures at his EPA office in D.C.

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“The fact that he has been — has a controversy with expenses, which I think is one of the things that people are just frustrated with, with Cabinet members who seem to want to use taxpayer dollars to fund a life, their own personal lifestyle,” Jones said.

Most recently, Pruitt has faced criticism for staying at a Capitol Hill condominium — owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist — for $50 a night. The agreement did not violate ethics regulations, according to the EPA’s top ethics official.

“And now on top of this, the — you know, not just the $50, but the fact that it was going to energy company lobbyists, that — it just looks so bad,” Jones said. “And I think it seems that he may be on his way out.”

Pruitt’s departure would be the latest in a long line of recent departures from Trump’s White House.

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was ousted via Twitter earlier this month. A few days ago former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin also left the White House.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned last year after an investigation uncovered that he used federal funds to pay for charter flights.