EPA Chief Scott Pruitt confronted by mother in restaurant demanding he resign for sake of future generations

'Hi, I just wanted to urge you to resign because of what you’re doing to the environment and our country,' Kristin Mink says she told Mr Pruitt

US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt is the latest member of Donald Trump's Cabinet to be confronted by a concerned citizen in public. (Reuters)

A woman confronted top Trump official Scott Pruitt in a Washington restaurant and demanded he resign as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), citing the damage he is doing to the environment and America's international reputation.

Kristin Mink was dining with her toddler at the Teaism Penn Quarter when she says she spotted Mr Pruitt just a few seats away. In a video uploaded to her Facebook account, Ms Mink holds her child while speaking with the EPA chief and calmly says, "Hi, I just wanted to urge you to resign because of what you’re doing to the environment and our country.”

The mother introduces her son to Mr Pruitt and says, "This is my son. He loves animals. He loves clean air. He loves clean water. Meanwhile, you’re slashing strong fuel standards for cars and trucks, for the benefit of big corporations."

A manager at the Teaism Penn Quarter told The Independent they’re aware the incident took place but were not present when the confrontation occurred.

Ms Mink is the latest American whose publicly confronted a member of Donald Trump's Cabinet. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller were both heckled at Mexican restaurants — on separate occasions — during the height of backlash over Mr Trump’s controversial “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was also asked to leave by the owner of a Virginia restaurant named Red Hen, and spoke about the confrontation at the White House press briefing room podium.

Her story gained national attention, which resulted in pro-Trump rallies being held outside of the small establishment, leading to one arrest last week after chicken waste was thrown at the restaurant.

Mr Pruitt was silent throughout the latest confrontation, occasionally looking towards another man who was sitting across from him and up at Ms Mink while she spoke. He reportedly left the restaurant immediately after the incident occurred.

Ms Mink, who did not raise her voice or use any sort of profanity, went on to criticise the EPA chief for a number of recent scandals, including allegedly living in an energy lobbyist couple's luxury condo at a discount.

“You’ve been paying about 50 bucks a night to stay in a DC condo that’s connected to an energy lobbying firm, while approving their dirty sands pipeline,” She continues. ”We deserve to have somebody at the EPA who actually does protect our environment, somebody who believes in climate change and takes it seriously, for the benefit of all of us, including our children.”

In a caption coinciding with the Facebook video, Ms Mink wrote “as citizens, it is our responsibility to confront corrupt, unethical and immoral government officials whenever and wherever we see them,” adding a link to a petition calling for Mr Pruitt’s resignation. The petition has over 43,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

The EPA did not respond to a request for comment from The Independent but told USA Today that Mr Pruitt had in fact thanked Ms Mink for comments.

“Administrator Pruitt always welcomes input from Americans, whether they agree or disagree with the decisions being made at EPA," a statement said. "This is evident by him listening to her comments and going on to thank her, which is not shown in the video. His leaving had nothing to do with the confrontation, he had simply finished his meal and needed to get back to EPA for a briefing.”