DESPITE A JUDGE RULING THAT POTENTIALLY DAMNING EMAILS WOULD
NEED TO BE RELEASED BY NEXT TUESDAY, SCOTT PRUITT HAS
CLEARED THE SENATE IN A CLOSE VOTE AND WILL BE THE NEXT HEAD
OF THE EPA.
THOSE EMAILS WILL COME OUT BUT NOT EARLY ENOUGH TO
POTENTIALLY TANK HIS CONFIRMATION --
COLLINS WAS ONE OF ONLY TWO
REPUBLICANS TO VOTE AGAINST
BETSY DEVOS AS HEAD OF THE PRIMITIVE EDUCATION.
THERE WAS
WIDESPREAD OPPOSITION TO SCOTT PRUITT IN THIS POSITION, THERE
ARE MANY PEOPLE TRUMP HAVE PUT UP TO VARIOUS CABINET
DEPARTMENTS WHO SEEM TO BE PHILOSOPHICALLY OPPOSED TO THE
POINT OF THAT AGENCY, BUT NO ONE MORE THAN SCOTT PRUITT.
BUT NOT
JUST IN TERMS OF THINGS HE SAID, LAWSUITS HE'S FILED, PEOPLE
HE'S WORKED ON BEHALF OF AN ACTIONS HE'S TAKEN IN HIS
OWN POSITIONS IN GOVERNMENT IN THE PAST DECADES.
I WANT TO READ A QUOTE FROM SUSAN COLLINS BECAUSE IT'S
NOT OFTEN WE HAVE REPUBLICANS VOTING AGAINST TRUMP'S NOMINEES.
SHE SAID THIS --
AS I ALLUDED TO IN THE INTRO
--
THAT IS A NICE TACTIC, BUT I DON'T THINK YOU WILL GET THE
REPUBLICANS TO CARE ABOUT SOMETHING AS SILLY AS EMAILS,
JUDGE.
BUT THOSE WILL EVENTUALLY COME OUT, HE HAS RELEASED A
COUPLE HUNDRED PAGES OF THEM IN THE PAST, AND WE KNOW THAT AS A
RESULT OF THE LITTLE BIT OF DISCLOSURE WE'VE HAD, HE'S
PREVIOUSLY SUPPORTED LEGISLATION THAT WAS WORD FOR WORD PROVIDED
FOR HIM BY THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY, HE HAS SENT LETTERS TO
THE EPA THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT TO BE WORD FOR WORD PROVIDED TO
HIM BY THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY, NOW HE'S GOING TO BE HEADING UP
THE INDUSTRY THAT IS IN MANY WAYS SUPPOSED TO BE IN CONFLICT
WITH THAT SAME INDUSTRY IN TERMS OF THEIR MANDATE TO STOP CERTAIN
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
WE WILL TALK ABOUT THE MOST DANGEROUS PART OF SCOTT PRUITT
IN THE SECOND BUT LET ME EMPHASIZE SOME THINGS JOHN
MENTIONED, AND DID NOT.
FIRST, WHEN YOU ARE IN FAVOR OF MERCURY
EMISSIONS IN THE AIR AND YOU WOULD NOT LIKE TO RESTRICT THEM,
OKAY, I'M A LITTLE CONCERNED.
LET'S SAY IT'S L.A. WHERE I LIVE
IN MY KIDS LIVE AND HE SAYS MERCURY EMISSIONS, HAVE AT IT,
HOSS.
I'M CONCERNED.
IS THERE A REASONABLE ARGUMENT TO BE MADE
AS TO HOW MUCH MERCURY EMISSIONS WE SHOULD HAVE?
OF COURSE.
IS
SCOTT PRUITT PURSUING A REASONABLE PATH?
WELL, WHEN YOU
COPY AND PASTE OIL INDUSTRY LETTERS AND SEND THEM TO THE
EPA, I'M NOT SURE YOU ARE REALLY PURSUING A REASONABLE PATH, AND
THOSE SAME INDUSTRIES BY THE WAY GAVE A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF
MONEY TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN A COMA AND TO THE ATTORNEY
GENERALS ACROSS STATES THAT WERE REPUBLICANS, AND SCOTT PRUITT
LED THAT MOVEMENT, BUT I'M SURE THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS THEY GOT
FROM OIL AND GAS SPEARHEADED BY SCOTT PRUITT HAD NOTHING TO DO
WITH THE FACT THAT HE AGREES WORD FOR WORD WITH THOSE
INDUSTRIES.
AND EVEN HE BRAGGED ABOUT, NOT ONLY ON AN OKLAHOMA
OFFICIAL STATE WEBSITE, BUT ON HIS LINKEDIN PROFILE, THAT HE IS
THE LEADING ADVOCATE AGAINST THE EPA'S ACTIVIST AGENDA.
SO THEY
TOOK THE LEADING ACTIVIST AGAINST THE EPA AND MADE HIM
HEAD OF THE EPA.
HE'S BASICALLY A PAID AGENT OF THE OIL
INDUSTRY.
PROBABLY AMONG THE WORST PICS THERE IS.
BUT THE
PART I'M MOST WORRIED ABOUT IS, HE SAYS HIS PRIORITIES ARE TO
BASICALLY END THE CLEAN POWERPLANT, WHICH WOULD RESTRICT
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM POWER PLANTS AND INCENTIVIZE
RENEWABLE ENERGY, THAT'S DISASTROUS, AND THE WATERS FOR
THE UNITED STATES RULE WHICH CLARIFIED BODIES OF WATER
SUBJECT TO THE CLEAN WATER ACT PROVISIONS, ALSO DISASTROUS.
BUT
WORST OF ALL, ACCORDING TO REPUBLICANS INVOLVED IN THE EPA
TRANSITION, HE WOULD CONSIDER CLOSING THE EPA'S ENFORCEMENT
DIVISION.
WHICH MEANS THE EPA BASICALLY NO LONGER EXISTS.
TAKE AWAY THE TEETH.
IF YOU DON'T ENFORCE YOUR RULES, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT
MAKE IF YOU HAVE RULES?
ACCORDING TO REPUBLICANS, NOT
ACCORDING TO US, HIS EFFORT IS TO COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN
ENFORCEMENT AT THE EPA, AND HENCE THAT DEPARTMENT IS
NOW COMPLETELY USELESS.
I DON'T CARE FOR THE WORK OF THE STARLAND VOCAL BAND, AND
THEREFORE IT WOULD BE ABSURD TO MAKE ME THE DIRECTOR OF THE
STARLAND VOCAL BAND.
[LAUGHTER] THIS IS WHAT TRUMP IS DOING.
IT'S WHAT REAGAN DID TO SOME EXTENT.
THIS IS AN OLD TRICK OUT
OF THE REPUBLICAN PLAYBOOK, GET SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO DESTROY AN
AGENCY, AND IF YOU GET ELECTED PUT THAT PERSON IN TO DESTROY
THE AGENCY.
AT ALL THIS WENT ON WHILE EARTHQUAKES WERE
INCREASING, I WAS LOOKING FOR THE FIGURE BUT I'M NOT
CONNECTED, SOMETHING AT LEAST 400% DUE TO FRACKING.
IN OKLAHOMA.
SAY "SCIENTISTS."
IN 2011 THERE WERE 63 EARTHQUAKES, AFTER FRACKING IN
2016 THERE WERE 644.
IT COULD BE THAT WAS A WILD COINCIDENCE, BUT I'M NOT SO
SURE ABOUT THAT.
THERE COULD BE PROS TO THAT MANY EARTHQUAKES, WE DON'T KNOW.
AND THIS GUY SUED THE EPA TO NOT DO ITS JOB IN OKLAHOMA, NOW
HE WILL RUN THE EPA.
AND THEY CONFIRMED HIM FOUR DAYS BEFORE
THE EMAILS COME OUT.
TWO DEMOCRATIC SENATORS DID VOTE FOR PRUITT, JOE MANCHIN IN
WEST VIRGINIA AND HEIDI HEITKAMP IN NORTH DAKOTA, THAT ARE TWO
STATES WHY BELIEVE THE TRUMP MARGIN SWUNG THE MOST OF ANY
STATE RELATIVE TO MITT ROMNEY'S SHARE OF 2012'S VOTE.
OBVIOUSLY
THERE IS A BIG POLITICAL INCENTIVE THE DEMOCRATS IN THOSE
STATES HAVE TO VOTE FOR CERTAIN TRUMP NOMINEES, AT LEAST THOSE
THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ENERGY POLICY, AND THAT IS WHAT SEEMS
TO HAVE CONVERTED A LOT OF HISTORICAL DEMOCRATS TO
TRUMP IN CERTAIN AREAS OF THE COUNTRY.
WE THINK THE BREAKDOWN OF THE SENATE IS 52-48, BUT IT REALLY
ISN'T.
JOE MANCHIN WILL VOTE WITH REPUBLICANS A GREAT NUMBER
OF TIMES, LET ALONE HEIDI HEITKAMP AND OTHERS.
THEY ARE SO
AFRAID OF TRUMP BECAUSE OF THE PHENOMENON MICHAEL POINTED OUT,
AND THE REALITY IS THAT IS NOT STRENGTH.
WHAT VOTERS LIKED
ABOUT TRUMP, AND WHY THEY VOTED FOR HIM INCLUDING IN THOSE
STATES, WAS THAT HE WAS STRONG, AND UNLIKE A REGULAR POLITICIAN.
SO NOW THEY LEARNED ALL THE WRONG LESSONS, THEY ARE GOING ON
WITH THE DONALD, I'M WITH TRUMP.
THAT DOESN'T LOOK STRONG, THAT
LOOKS WEAK.
NOW YOU SAID REPUBLICANS ARE RIGHT ABOUT
EVERYTHING, NEXT TIME WHEN I RUN AGAINST A REPUBLICAN, VOTE FOR
ME.
GOOD LUCK WITH THAT STRATEGY.
THOSE TWO ARE ALMOST CERTAINLY GOING TO LOSE, I HOPE THEY
LOSE TO JUSTICE DEMOCRATS IN PRIMARIES, BUT IF THEY
DON'T THEY WILL GET SLAUGHTERED BY THE REPUBLICANS.