By the end, Pruitt had few defenders in the West Wing. The White House counsel's office saw him as a constant source of problems, officials said. Chief of staff John Kelly was seemingly obsessed with getting Pruitt ousted, according to EPA and White House officials. Pruitt no longer even returned calls from Cabinet Affairs, the White House department that oversees agencies, White House officials said. His own former aides delivered damaging testimony to Capitol Hill investigators in recent days, confirming media reports, and many in his own agency had turned against him.