WASHINGTON_When President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he was withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, he never said whether he believed in the science of global warming or if he still considers it a hoax, as he has said in the past.
At least one of his aides, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, insists that Trump has accepted that the climate is changing and carbon emissions are partly to blame.
"President Trump believes the climate is changing," she said on CNN's "State of the Union," which airs Sunday. "And he does know that pollutants are a part of that equation."
The Paris agreement sets nonbinding targets for greenhouse gas emissions for the 194 countries that signed it. The U.S. joined only Syria and Nicaragua in rejecting it.
"Just because we got out of a club doesn't mean that we don't care about the environment," Haley said.
Haley didn't say how she knows Trump's views. She previously has voiced positions at the U.N. that were at odds with what Trump had publicly stated or tweeted.
Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina, restated Trump's argument that the Paris agreement was disadvantageous to some U.S. companies.
"I knew that as a governor," she said. "We know that now. The jobs were not attainable as long as we had to live under those regulations. It wasn't possible to meet the conditions under the Paris agreement had we even attempted to do that."
She added: "We've got a president who is going to watch out for the environment. It's what we do. It's who we are. We're going to continue to be a leader in the environment."
Administration officials have been unable to say with confidence since Thursday's announcement whether Trump believes in the science of global warming or still considers it a hoax.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer, asked at Friday's news briefing whether Trump thought climate change was a hoax, said: "I have not had an opportunity to have that discussion."
