EPA administrator Scott Pruitt slammed President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, calling him an "empty vessel when it comes to things like the Constitution and rule of law," CNN reported Monday.
"I'm very concerned that perhaps if he's in the White House, that there may be a very blunt instrument as the voice of the Constitution," Pruitt said on a local Oklahoma radio show Feb. 11, 2016.
"This president, the one we have there now, has at least tried to nuance his unlawfulness," Pruitt continued, discussing then-President Barack Obama. "He at least sits back and says, 'How do we break the law and so where it's really tough to show that we have?' I'm not sure that Donald Trump would."
Pruitt, Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, was supporting Jeb Bush for president at the time.
When asked about his comments, an EPA spokesperson referred CNN to a statement Pruitt issued earlier in the week praising 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."
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