Another member of President Trump’s administration was confronted by a member of the public, this time in a tea shop in Washington, D.C.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt was having lunch at Teaism on Monday when a woman confronted him and urged him to resign.
In a video posted to Facebook Monday, Kristin Mink is seen introducing her toddler son to Pruitt and telling him to resign. Occasionally appearing to refer to notes and speaking calmly, she cites his actions on water and air quality protection and tells him his policies have benefitted corporations over the environment.
“This is my son. He loves animals, he loves clean air, he loves clean water,” Mink said in the video to Pruitt and his lunch companion.
“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,” she said.
“I would urge you to resign before your scandals push you out,” she says before the video ends.
The woman said that Pruitt got up and left after the encounter, but an EPA spokesperson told the New York Post that his leaving had nothing to do with the confrontation and that Pruitt had finished his meal.
The spokesperson, Lincoln Ferguson, also told the Post that Pruitt thanked Mink after the exchange.
Pruitt has been under fire for months over a steady stream of reports detailing conflict-of-interest issues and other problems, most notably an apparent sweetheart deal with the wife of a lobbyist who rented Pruitt a condo on Capitol Hill for $50 a night.
Several members of the Trump administration have been confronted at restaurants or other public places over the past several weeks.
A protester reportedly called White House adviser Stephen Miller a “fascist” as he dined at a restaurant in Washington last month. That incident came just a few days before Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen was run out of a Mexican restaurant in Washington the same day she defended Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy that caused family separation at the US-Mexico border.
Later in the month, press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Virginia.
Watch the video:
Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @cprignano.