Ex-campaign aide ducks on climate change, says Trump ‘passionate about the environment’

Former Trump campaign official Jason Miller on Friday evening dodged questions on whether President Trump believes that climate change is a hoax.

“He’s passionate about the environment. He’s built a number of these resorts and golf courses, and he loves the outdoors,” Miller told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

“But I think, Anderson, you’re asking the wrong question here. If the question is asked, ‘Does the president support the environment, does he support clean air, clean water?’ The answer is of course, yes,” Miller said.

{mosads}

The former Trump communications official went on to say that if the president said it was a hoax “he would be attacked for being a heretic” by many on the left, and if he said it wasn’t a hoax “he would be attacked for being a flip-flopper.”

Trump famously tweeted in 2012 that “the concept of global warming was created by the Chinese.”

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

While the president announced his decision Thursday to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate change accord, he did not acknowledge whether he still believes climate change is a hoax.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt and White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Friday both refused to say whether Trump believes in climate change.

“All the discussions we had through the last several weeks had been focused on one singular issue: Is Paris good or not for this country?” Pruitt said.

Spicer also dodged questions regarding the president’s stance on climate change, saying, “I have not had an opportunity to have that discussion.”