Sen. Jeff Sessions, Rep. Mike Pompeo, Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn
One similarity between the three Trump cabinet picks announced on Friday: they are all climate change deniers.
<p><strong>1. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), </strong>the choice for attorney general, has refused to accept the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/consensus-on-consensus-97-of-the-worlds-climate-scientists-say-humans--1891114302.html">97 percent consensus</a> on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> and believes carbon dioxide is simply "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/18/10-things-to-know-about-sen-jeff-sessions-donald-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general/" target="_blank">plant food</a>."</p><p>According to the <a href="http://www.frc.org/wwlivewithtonyperkins/jeff-sessions-everett-piper" target="_blank">Washington Watch</a> via <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/jeff-sessions-no-major-hurricanes-in-ten-years-thank-the-lord/" target="_blank">Right Wing Watch</a>, Sessions made this remark prior to the Paris climate talks in November 2015: "The balloon and satellite data track each other almost exactly, and it shows almost no warming. So what we're talking about is: The predictions aren't coming true."</p><p><strong>2. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-mike-pompeo-cia-2098420368.html">Rep. Mike Pompeo</a> (R-KS),</strong> the pick for CIA director, denies the scientific consensus on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/leonardo-dicaprio-before-the-flood-2062971522.html">climate change</a>, has <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/donald-trumps-cia-pick-koch-brothers-puppet-oil-gas-billionaires-backed-rep-mike" target="_blank">received enormous backing from the Koch brothers</a> and opposes the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a>.</p><p>According to a <a href="http://pompeo.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398717" target="_blank">press release</a> from Pompeo's website, the congressman said in November 2015, in reference to President's Obama calling climate change the biggest national security threat of our lifetime: "President Obama has called climate change the biggest national security threat of our lifetime, but he is horribly wrong. His unwillingness to acknowledge the true threat posed by Islamic extremism will get Americans killed. His perverse fixation on achieving his economically harmful environmental agenda instead of defeating the true threats facing the world shows just how out of sync his priorities are with Kansans and the American people."</p><p><strong>3. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn,</strong> tapped for National Security Advisor, does not believe climate change is a national security threat, even though <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/military-leaders-urge-trump-to-see-climate-as-a-security-threat/" target="_blank">dozens of military and defense experts</a> say otherwise.<br></p><p>In June on Fox News, Flynn <a href="http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/06/29/gen-flynn-goes-obama-talking-about-climate-change" target="_blank">said</a> on The Kelly File: "And here we have the President of the United States up in Canada talking about climate change. I mean, God, we just had the largest attack ... on our own soil in Orlando. Why aren't we talking about that? Who is talking about that? I mean, Fort Hood, Chattanooga, Boston, people forget about 9/11!"</p><p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><strong>News: </strong><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-top-picks-climate-denial-record-d9e6f438b104#.t5ey5mn34" target="_blank">ThinkProgress</a>, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/11/climate-deniers-trump-administration" target="_blank">Mother Jones</a>, <a href="http://fusion.net/story/370917/trump-rick-perry-for-energy-secretary-just-trolling/" target="_blank">Fusion</a>, <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/donald-trumps-cia-pick-koch-brothers-puppet-oil-gas-billionaires-backed-rep-mike" target="_blank">IB Times</a></p><p><a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/donald-trumps-cia-pick-koch-brothers-puppet-oil-gas-billionaires-backed-rep-mike" target="_blank"></a><strong>Commentary: </strong><a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-it-matters-that-trumps-attorney-general-pick-is-a-climate-change-skeptic" target="_blank">Motherboard, Grennan Milliken column</a></p><p><em>For more <a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank">climate change</a> and <a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank">clean energy</a> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on <a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, and sign up for daily <a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank">Hot News</a>.</em></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><script rel="display: none;" src="https://actionsprout.io/embed.js"></script><script>window.ActionSproutEmbed('6D61F4');</script></div>
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