EPA spokesperson calls journalist 'piece of trash' for reporting on aide's resignation

A spokesperson for Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt called a journalist a 'piece of trash' (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

A spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called a reporter a “piece of trash”.

Jahan Wilcox, who began speaking on behalf of administrator Scott Pruitt in 2017, told journalist Elaina Plott of The Atlantic magazine: “have a great day, you’re a piece of trash”. The insult was in response to a query from Ms Plott about her report on the resignation of one of Mr Pruitt’s top aides, Millan Hupp.

Ms Hupp is the 26-year-old aide who had, according to Congressional testimony made public recently, been tasked with finding Mr Pruitt a used mattress from a hotel owned by President Donald Trump, searching for cheap housing, and all manner of personal tasks.

The director of advance logistics and scheduling Ms Hupp played a role in the ethics issues plaguing Mr Pruitt - including using taxpayer money for first-class tickets, living in a heavily subsidised flat owned by an oil and gas lobbyist, and spending more than $40,000 on a soundproof booth for his office.

This is not the first time the EPA and the media have butted heads.

Just a few weeks ago, Mr Wilcox and his team had barred reporters of CNN, the Associated Press, the environmental-focused news organisation E&E, and MLive, a Michigan-based news outlet, from attending a conference on the spread of contaminants in drinking water held at the agency’s Washington DC headquarters.

The AP said that when the news agency's reporter asked to speak to a public affairs person, the security guards grabbed the reporter by the shoulders and shoved her forcibly out of the building.

Mr Wilcox told The Independent at the time that “this was simply an issue of the room reaching capacity, which reporters were aware of prior to the event. We were able to accommodate 10 reporters, provided a live stream for those we could not accommodate, and were unaware of the individual situation that has been reported”.

However, a participant in the meeting told The Independent there had been space in the room and that he saw some reporters inside. The EPA did not respond to questions regarding which media outlets were allowed inside.

The agency also attacked another AP reporter over a story about how the agency was not present at so-called Superfund sites around Houston, Texas, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Houston is a petrochemical hub and the agency's Superfund programme is responsible for cleaning the country's most contaminated areas and responding to environmental emergencies, oil spills, and natural disasters.

The EPA said the sites were inaccessible to its response team and issued a press release attacking the reporter for writing a false story despite the documentation. They had earlier removed that person from their master distribution list to media because the EPA claimed he never opened their emails unless it was “to create problems” for Mr Pruitt.

On another occasion last October, EPA spokesperson Liz Bowman wrote to a New York Times journalist that “no matter how much information we give you, you would never write a fair piece. The only thing inappropriate and biased is your continued fixation on writing elitist clickbait trying to attack qualified professionals committed to serving their country”.

The apparent attitude towards the media appears to be an extension of Mr Trump’s own distaste for most mainstream outlets save for Fox News. One of his go-to insults is to call media reports “fake news,” particularly if they do not highlight accomplishments or positive news about the administration.