Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said recent layoffs at EPA, coupled with Zeldin's comments about sharp spending cuts, show he had no intent to follow through on a pledge during his confirmation hearing to work collaboratively with EPA's staff.

"I spoke with Lee Zeldin and he thinks he's going to be cutting 65 or so percent of the people from environmental," Trump said.