GOP Rep. Joe Barton calls Scott Pruitt 'the victim' and thanks him for stopping Obama's 'radical clean air' agenda

Republican Rep. Joe Barton on Thursday insisted that EPA Director Scott Pruitt had been a "victim" of Democrats because of news which accuse Pruitt of corruption.

At a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday, Democrats repeatedly suggested that Pruitt should resign over the , but many of the Republicans praised the EPA director.

"You're not the first person to be the victim of - for lack of a better term - Washington politics," Barton told Pruitt. "You got picked to be the EPA administrator because of the service you provided for the great state of Oklahoma in fighting some of the Obama administration radical clean air policies."