Friday News: “Sneak,” “Thug,” “Oily Stain” Pruitt Leaving, Maybe Even WORSE Taking His Place?; 4th Wrestler Says “Freedom Caucus” Leader Knew About Sex Abuse, Did Nothing; “Corey Stewart airbrushes slavery out of Civil War history”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, July 6.

• Trump’s trade war starts, and China immediately retaliates with tariffs of its own
• China’s Tariff Response Takes Effect After Trump Ignites Trade War
• US Army quietly discharging immigrant recruits (WTF???)
• Trump Narrows Supreme Court Shortlist To 3 — With 2 On The Inside Track (This is going to be a disaster.)
• Fourth Ohio State wrestler says Rep. Jim Jordan knew about sexual abuse when he was coach (“The wrestler said Jordan, a former assistant coach at Ohio State, took part in locker-room conversations where athletes discussed the abuse.”)
• Supreme Court Front- Runner Once Argued for Impeachment
• Scandalous EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Finally Resigns (“The one thing of which we can be sure is that Trump was not troubled by the ongoing scandal of Pruitt’s ideological devotion to the interests of the fossil-fuel industry at the expense of EPA’s core mission. His designated successor Andrew Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist and aide to Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, perhaps the most prominent and hammer-headed climate-change denier in Congress.”)
• 76 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump (“The list shows dozens of environmental policies that the Trump administration has targeted, often in an effort to ease burdens on the fossil fuel industry.” Evil.)
• Scott Pruitt Exits, Sticking You With the Tab (“A hotter planet, shortened life spans and diminished trust in public service are the cost of the E.P.A. chief’s service.”)
• Trump Administration in Chaotic Scramble to Reunify Migrant Families
• How Andrew Wheeler, the New Acting E.P.A. Chief, Differs From Scott Pruitt (“Mr. Wheeler is viewed as a consummate Washington insider who avoids the limelight and has spent years effectively navigating the rules. For that reason, Mr. Wheeler’s friends and critics alike say, he could ultimately prove to be more adept than his controversial former boss in the job.” Which makes Wheeler, ultimately, MORE dangerous than Pruitt.)
• ‘A sneak and a thug’: NYT editorial board passes final sentence on Pruitt as ‘oily stain’ on the EPA office he held
• I Hope They Made Scott Pruitt Turn Out His Pockets on His Way Out the Door (“The departing EPA chief was a first-class grifter—but he did his lasting damage elsewhere.”)
• Pruitt won’t be needing those tactical pants anymore. But Trump might. (“The EPA administrator’s many scandals masked bigger problems.”)
• Trump Assails Critics and Mocks #MeToo. What About Putin? ‘He’s Fine’ (Sick human being.)
• Trump can’t make America white again (“He is waging a war on nonwhite Hispanic immigrants.)
• E.P.A. Aide Questioned Deleting Sensitive Meeting Details. Then She Was Fired.
• How Scott Pruitt’s Disloyalty to His Own Staff Brought Him Down in the End (“Loyalty to President Trump kept Scott Pruitt at the EPA, but his lack of fidelity to his own aides is what eventually sealed his demise.”)
• Krugman: Big Business Reaps Trump’s Whirlwind
• John Kelly, Scott Pruitt, and the Epic Turnover of the Trump Administration (“What does the endless death watch for the President’s chief of staff tell us about the worst-run White House of modern times?”)
• So Did Scott Pruitt Remake the EPA? (“The agency is smaller, poorer, and less driven by science. But ‘I don’t think there is a big Pruitt legacy,’ one legal scholar said.”)
• Tribalism fueled Scott Pruitt’s rise to power — and the scandals that came with it (“As EPA chief, Pruitt was pure Trumpism. But Trumpism couldn’t save him.”)
• Pruitt’s EPA replacement, Andrew Wheeler, is a former coal lobbyist who promoted an Infowars video defending Milo Yiannopoulos (“Now Wheeler is trying to sound like a defender of environmental justice”)
• The Democratic Party Hits a Fork in the Road (“Democrats can dodge a decision in 2018 over which voters they should prioritize. But by 2020, they’ll need to make a choice.”)
• Pruitt Failed to Sabotage the EPA (“His successor will be masterful at it.”)
• The Epitome of Trump-Style Corruption (“Scott Pruitt’s graft was extreme, even outlandish. That’s why he thrived for so long in this administration.”)
• Former aides describe culture of fear under Pruitt
• Trump: I would offer Warren $1M to prove her Native American heritage
• Ex-Ohio State wrestler’s emails to Rep. Jim Jordan allege cover-up of ‘vile’ sex abuse
• Fourth Ohio State wrestler says Rep. Jim Jordan knew of team doctor’s abuse
• This Ought to Run in Campaign Ads from Now Through Eternity (“Attention Optics Police: a crew of Republican senators spent the Fourth of July in…Moscow.”)
• Sen. Kaine and Jennifer Wexton campaign over coffee (“The two campaigns stopped in Winchester to meet voters, open their field office”)
• Corey Stewart airbrushes slavery out of Civil War history (“Va.’s GOP Senate nominee dredges up the falsehood that slavery was irrelevant.” There’s something seriously wrong with this guy.)
• As politics of immigration heat up, Virginia churches join growing sanctuary movement
• Virginia Supreme Court upholds pipeline survey law, but with dissent (“But the court delivered the 6-1 decision on Thursday after a linguistic battle with Justice Arthur Kelsey in a biting dissent that challenges the 2004 law’s central premise of allowing gas companies to enter private property without permission and a federal permit that allows them to exercise eminent domain.”)
• Kaine, Cockburn to stump at local farmers markets
• Annapolis shooting suspect sent letter to a Virginian-Pilot editor, police say (“Eric Hartley, who once worked for The Capital in Annapolis, Md., found the pink, card-sized envelope in his newsroom mailbox on Thursday. On the envelope was written ‘anonymous source’ in the top-left corner and with his name and the Pilot address in the middle. It was postmarked June 28, the day of the newsroom shooting.”)
• Northern Virginia side roads worst in state, even with improvement
• Protesters return as The Red Hen quietly reopens its doors
• More candidates eyeing Henrico’s Brookland District seat vacated by Courtney Lynch
• Steamy and wet at times today, but a cold front’s going to deliver a spectacular weekend