WASHINGTON – Now we know why President Trump doesn’t believe the dire climate change report issued by his own administration last week. Trump’s press secretary says the report is “not based on facts.”
“We’d like to see something that is more data driven,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in Tuesday’s press briefing, dismissing the findings of the 1,600-page report from more than 300 top scientists and 13 federal agencies.
“The last thing President Trump, Sarah Sanders and their sycophants are willing to accept are facts,” said EWG president Ken Cook. “Whether it’s crowd size, Russian election meddling, the death of a journalist or the impacts of climate change, every time the Trump White House is confronted with indisputable facts, it ignores them.”
Asked Monday by reporters why the latest National Climate Assessment, detailing the economic and environmental devastation expected in coming decades if swift action is not taken to curb greenhouse gas pollution, was buried on Black Friday, Trump said flatly: “I don’t believe it.” He did say he’d “read some of it.”
“Given what we know about the president’s reading habits, I wonder if the report has any pictures,” Cook said.
“By now it’s the safest bet in town that when President Trump doesn’t believe something is true, it is,” said Cook. “None of the president’s policy positions are grounded in facts, and his unfortunate decision to dismiss his own government’s alarming study further demonstrates his utter ignorance when it comes to the threats climate change presents to every American.”
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The Environmental Working Group is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
