The Slatest

John Kerry: Trump Plan for Better Climate Deal Is Like O.J. Search for “Real Killer”

John Kerry speaks with the media after a Mideast peace conference in Paris on Jan. 15.

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Former Secretary of State John Kerry harshly criticized President Donald Trump for taking the United States out of the Paris climate deal and mocked the commander in chief’s vow to negotiate a better agreement for the country. “When Donald Trump says, well, we’re going to negotiate a better deal, you know, he’s going to go out and find a better deal? That’s like O.J. Simpson saying he’s going to go out and find the real killer,” Kerry said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “Everybody knows he isn’t going to do that because he doesn’t believe in it.”

Throughout the interview, Kerry repeatedly criticized Trump for the decision, saying the president “unilaterally ceded global leadership on this issue” that had bipartisan consensus in the past. He even pointed out that his successor at the State Department, Rex Tillerson, also wanted to keep the United States in the agreement. “I mean, what does Donald Trump know that Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, doesn’t know?” he asked.

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, made the Sunday talk show rounds to defend the White House decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement. Speaking on Meet the Press, Pruitt denied that the move was political. “It was right for this country, Chuck. This is a decision that was right for this country from a jobs perspective, an economy perspective and an environmental perspective,” Pruitt said. “It was not a political decision.” In the interviews, Pruitt continued to refuse to answer whether Trump believes climate change is a hoax.

“Why can’t the president just say whether or not he believes in man-made climate change,” ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked. “I think the whole question is an effort to get it off the point, and the issue of whether Paris is good for this country or not,” Pruitt responded. “The president has indicated the climate changes.”

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in two separate interviews that Trump “believes the climate is changing and he believes pollutants are part of the equation.”