Whistleblower: Pruitt Meetings Scrubbed From Calendar; As New Scandals Erupt, How Does EPA Chief Still Have Job?; Nearly 60 Percent Disapprove Of Trump's Immigration Handling
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What is missing? Meetings with energy industry officials, lawyers, Washington insiders who could potentially benefit from a friendlier</s>EPA. (on camera): So, he would meet with an industry lobbyist, somebody from industry itself and decide later that that was not going to look good, so let's scrub it off the calendar?</s>KEVIN CHMIELEWSKI, FORMER EPA OFFICIAL: Sometimes later, even before, we would always put on the schedule meeting with staff. That was the default button was meeting with staff.</s>GRIFFIN (voice-over): Want some examples? Internal e-mails show that in April 2017, Pruitt has a briefing and attends a dinner at Trump International Hotel with coal company executive, Joseph Pratt. It is not listed on the public EPA calendar. September 2017, the official schedule shows Pruitt met with former senator turned energy industry lobbyist, Trent Lott. But left off that the meeting included the CEO of a shipping company and discussion of ships and their fuel source. In October 2017, a staff briefing appeared on Pruitt's official calendar. E-mails show the actual meeting was with private attorneys representing a water district over a super fund site.</s>CHMIELEWSKI: We had at one point three different schedules. One of them was one that no one else saw besides three or four of us.</s>GRIFFIN: Two government experts tell CNN altering, sanitizing official government records to protect the boss could lead to legal trouble.</s>LARRY NOBLE, FORMER GENERAL COUNSEL, FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION: If somebody deleted, changed, scrubbed a federal record with the intent of deceiving the public or anybody, it could very well be a violation of federal law.</s>GRIFFIN: The most controversial deletion of all according to Chmielewski came after Pruitt's $120,000 taxpayer funded trip to Rome in June 2017. That trip included extensive interaction with Catholic Cardinal George Pell, who was charged with multiple historical charges ever sexual offenses a few weeks later to which Pell pleaded not guilty. But this itinerary shows a tour with Cardinal Pell, it is not on Pruitt's official calendar, also missing is a lunch with Cardinal Pell.</s>CHMIELEWSKI: All of our time at the Vatican was spent with Cardinal Pell. Cardinal Pell was basically our host.</s>GRIFFIN: Yet, none of those tours, dinners and lunches appeared later when Scott Pruitt released his official calendar. Chmielewski says that was intentional.</s>CHMIELEWSKI: Once we came back and the cardinal was actually charged with these offenses, I alerted them and that is when it was basically taken off the schedule that we met with Cardinal Pell.</s>GRIFFIN: Chmielewski says he was fired from the EPA after raising 2questions about Scott Pruitt's extravagant spending. He supports Donald Trump and Donald Trump's pledge to drain the D.C. swamp. He says keeping Pruitt at EPA makes no sense.</s>CHMIELEWSKI: If there is something, I don't care if it's Republican or Democrat, right is right and wrong is wrong. And what he is doing right now is completely wrong.</s>GRIFFIN: CNN, of course, reached out to EPA multiple times seeking comment for this report. Scott Pruitt and his staff somewhere chosen not to respond. Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Drew, thank you. For reaction, David Chalian is with me, CNN political director. I mean, David, there have been many corrupt cabinet officials in the past, but how high up the list is this guy on the list of worst offenders?</s>DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Pretty darn high when it comes to sort of swamp behavior. You'll recall that Donald Trump ran against this. It was one of the things he really found -- he was able to tap into a current with voters about how much they can't stand exactly this kind of behavior, Brooke. And yet here is Scott Pruitt doing everything that if you were writing a book to a cabinet secretary how to avoid controversy and problems and corruption, you would go down this list and be like don't do any of these things.</s>BALDWIN: Don't do any of these things.</s>CHALIAN: Exactly. Including possible violations of the law when it comes to asking people in their government function to do non- government work, whether that is getting your wife a $200,000 a year job or working out some rent with a landlord that you're having a dispute with. These are not actual taxpayer job descriptions.</s>BALDWIN: Yet he still has his job.</s>CHALIAN: Because he is following through on an agenda that President Trump wants implemented.</s>BALDWIN: I want to ask you about the new Quinnipiac numbers, 58 percent disapproval of the president. What is your read of that number?</s>CHALIAN: This poll has been taken with all of the information out there, nonstop coverage about the issue at the border and children being separated from their families, the president reversing course with that executive order. This is not working for the president. The numbers have gotten worse here on his handling of immigration as you noted, Brooke, it is actually slightly worse than his overall approval rating. So, this is a negative issue for him and I would note also in the same Quinnipiac poll immigration has gone to the top of the most important issues impacting how someone will vote this fall. More than the economy and more than health care right now showing that this news coverage of this moment in time is definitely seeping into people's thinking. And just look at the president's actions when he reversed course a couple weeks ago. He knows that he was on the wrong side of this issue trying to get to the right place, but I have to remind folks, the United States government is still not -- has not united all of these families. And in this Quinnipiac poll, some six in 10 Americans think it is a human rights violation to separate them and 83 percent in this poll, 83 percent, Brooke, believe it is the U.S. government's responsibility to reunify these families.</s>BALDWIN: David, thank you. Coming up next, President Trump's commerce secretary that no matter what impact new tariffs have another U.S. economy, we won't be seeing a change in the Trump administration's tariffs. We'll discuss what that means for your money. Also, two mayors assassinated over the last 48 hours in the Philippines. Details on the attacks and the manhunt ahead.