For weeks, White House spokesmen have praised Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s job performance and deflected questions about his ethical missteps. Things changed Wednesday, as White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her deputy, Hogan Gidley, withheld compliments and told reporters that Pruitt will have to answer for his actions…

Two days later, the kudos for Pruitt’s “good job” were gone — as was Pruitt’s name. Sanders referred to him only as “the EPA administrator” on Wednesday. The White House’s new message is that Pruitt deserves the scrutiny he is getting.

On NPR earlier in the day, Gidley said, “I can tell you that the president and the White House are aware of these issues and these stories, that they raise some serious concerns, there’s no question about that.”

Gidley added that “the EPA and, quite frankly, Mr. Pruitt, are going to have to answer those questions in short order.”