EPA's Scott Pruitt confronted in a restaurant by a mother who urged him to resign before "his scandals pushed him out"
According to a Facebook post, another high ranking official from the Trump administration was harassed at a DC restaurant. On Monday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was approached by a teacher, Kristin Mink, at the Teaism restaurant as he ate dinner with a friend, four blocks from the EPA's headquarters, where his office is located.
The teacher held her two-year-old son and a notepad as her husband recorded the whole encounter. She said: “I just wanted to urge you to resign, because of what you’re doing to the environment in our country."
Mink explained during a conversation with The Post that her husband was the one who pointed her to Pruitt, and her natural reaction was: “He’s the worst." “I had to decide what to say, he’s so scandal-ridden,” Mink said. “I jotted down just a couple points that I wanted to make to him that were a little on the specific side.” As the 33-year-old mom from Silver Spring, Maryland, approached Pruitt, she explained she was nervous. “This is not my wheelhouse, confronting people in a restaurant,” Mink said.
In her rant, Mink spoke about Pruitt's plan to roll back vehicle emissions standards, even mentioning his $50 a night sweetheart apartment deal. “This is my son, he loves animals, he loves clean air, he loves clean water,” she said to Pruitt. “So I would urge you to resign before your scandals push you out,” she told the EPA head.
Pruitt observed the teacher's face throughout the encounter as she tried to enunciate her rehearsed speech. “He literally said nothing,” she told The Post. “He had no response, he had no defense, he had no apology, he did no explaining, he did no denying.”
Pruitt had been sitting three tables away from her and her family as they ate lunch, minding his own business, according to the footage posted on Facebook and Twitter. “I had to say something,” she said. Immediately after the confrontation, Pruitt and his friend exited the restaurant, the satiated teacher explained.
That being said, Pruitt's spokesman had a different explanation for his departure. He mentioned that instead of repudiating the woman's behavior after she was done, Pruitt thanked her instead. “Administrator Pruitt always welcomes input from Americans, whether they agree or disagree with the decisions being made at EPA. This is evident by him listening to her comments and going on to thank her, which is not shown in the video,” EPA spokesman Lincoln Ferguson told The Post.
“His leaving had nothing to do with the confrontation, he had simply finished his meal and needed to get back to the EPA for a briefing," he added. Also, signaling that he had finished his meal, Pruitt had left the napkin on his plate after the encounter.
33-year-old Mink is a teacher for the sixth grade at Sidwell Friends, the same school where President Obama sent his two daughters, according to the school's website. During her conversation with The Post, Mink said she has been demonstrating against the Trump administration for the longest time. Last week, she even got arrested at the Hart Senate Office Building, protesting the "policy" to separate parents and children at the border - a small example of the trouble misinformation can get you in.
“This wasn’t planned or organized, I literally just saw him and said you are the man who is ruining the future, for the children, for the next generation,” Mink said. Having said that, the EPA is yet to respond to a request for comment on the incident.
Pruitt's confrontation came after a slew of targeted attacks on White House officials in recent weeks. Last month, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, by its owner.
“Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so,” Sanders tweeted on June 23. Around the same time, a group of protestors interrupted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen while she was trying to eat dinner at the Mexican restaurant MXDC. The demonstrators shouted "Shame!" at the official, once again blaming the Trump administration for separating children and parents at the southern border.
At another Mexican restaurant, Espita Mezcaleria, Trump aide Stephen Miller was called a "fascist" by a patron, two days before Nielsen’s confrontation with anti-Trump demonstrators.
According to a witness who saw the encounter, the customer at the Mezcal joint said: “Hey look guys, whoever thought we’d be in a restaurant with a real-life fascist begging [for] money for new cages?”