Trump administration refuses to say whether president believes in climate science

Trump administration officials on Thursday repeatedly refused to say whether the president believes human activity contributes to climate change. 

In a briefing following Trump’s announcement that he will pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, officials were asked three separate times about his views on the topic but would not answer. 

One official said Trump’s stated desire to renegotiate the Paris agreement “speaks for itself” about his views on climate change. 

When pressed, the official said, “I have not talked to the president about his personal views on what is contributing to climate change.”

{mosads}The same official grew frustrated with the line of questioning and urged reporters to “stay on topic, please.”

Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on scientific data showing that human-created carbon dioxide emissions have contributed to global warming. In 2012, Trump tweeted that climate change was invented by the Chinese to kill U.S. manufacturing. 

As the Republican presidential nominee last year, Trump told Fox News that “climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax.”

“A lot of people are making a lot of money,” he said. “And I often joke that this is done for the benefit of China.”

White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked Tuesday if Trump believes human activity causes climate change, but also refused to answer. 

“Honestly, I haven’t asked him that,” Spicer said.