UN Ambassador @nikkihaley on @CNN —> “President Trump believes the climate is changing and he believes pollutants a… https://t.co/ggRIEP75yW
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said Saturday the President Trump believes climate change is happening and that human-made "pollutants are part of the equation."
“President Trump believes the climate is changing and he believes pollutants are part of that equation," Haley said. Her comments were made on CNN and CBS.
A top United States ambassador confirming that the President of the United States believes a conclusion from an overwhelming majority of the world's scientists is a big deal these days.
That's because Trump has tweeted in the past that, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." He's also called it a hoax.
And then this week, he pulled the US out of the Paris climate deal, which includes every other nation in the world except Syria and Nicaragua.
But when reporters later asked Press Secretary Sean Spicer, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Kellyanne Conway, and chief economic advisor Gary Cohn if Trump believes the climate is changing — they all dodged the question.
It's unclear if Haley has asked the president — Spicer and Pruitt said they didn't. And Trump has a history of undercutting public statements his top aides make and has said not to believe them because they may not be up on his current thinking.