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WASHINGTON — Scott Pruitt came to Washington and assembled an extraordinary team of like-minded conservatives — lawyers, energy lobbyists, free-market Republicans and close allies from his days in Oklahoma. All were committed not only to Mr. Pruitt, but also to his stated mission to be a regulation-buster at the Environmental Protection Agency.

In little more than a year, most of them were gone, chased away by scandal or disillusionment over what they viewed as a loss of focus by a boss distracted by the trappings of power — building an elaborate security team, traveling first class, seeking special benefits for his family — who then blamed his own staff for the missteps.

Mr. Pruitt’s fall from the E.P.A. is a story of his diminishing relationship with many of his closest loyalists. Instead of focusing on making history by reshaping American environmental policy, they found themselves not only defending their actions before investigators, but also calling out Mr. Pruitt in ways that exposed him to public scrutiny and ultimately led to his downfall.