While Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence conceded human activities impact the climate, he emphasized that “bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.,” cannot control the weather, calling the idea a “hoax.”
“There’s no question that the activities that take place in this country and in countries around the world have some impact on the environment and some impact on climate,” Pence told CNN Tuesday.
Pence was responding to critics of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump who attacked him for calling global warming a Chinese “hoax” to hurt U.S. businesses. Trump denied saying such a thing in Monday night’s debate, but was quickly rebuffed by fact-checking reporters.
“What Donald Trump said was a hoax is that bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., can control the climate of the earth,” Pence told CNN. “And the reality is that this climate change agenda that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton want to continue to expand is killing jobs in this country.”
In a 2012 tweet, Trump said “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” Trump tweeted in 2013, “Ice storm rolls from Texas to Tennessee – I’m in Los Angeles and it’s freezing. Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax!”
Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hit Trump over these remarks during their first of three presidential debates. She also used the moment to plug her green energy plan.
“Donald thinks that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese,” Clinton said during the debate. “I think it’s real.”
“I did not. I did not. I do not say that,” Trump responded.
The Trump campaign was quick to come back at the press. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway laughed off evidence of Trump calling global warming a hoax on Twitter.
“I just love that, that this whole man, whether he’s giving a, ‘yeah, I guess so,’ answer to Howard Stern about invading Iraq as a private citizen on an entertainment radio show, or through a tweet, we’re supposed to understand all of his policies,” she told CNN Tuesday morning.
Pence said Trump’s tweet “a humorous” one meant to “the argument on the Democrats,” according to Politico.
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