Donald Trump’s campaign manager said Tuesday the candidate does not believe climate change is man-made, a day after his previous statements on the issue were scrutinized at the first presidential debate.
“He believes that global warming is naturally occurring,” Kellyanne Conway told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on CNN’s “New Day.” “There are shifts naturally occurring.”
When Camerota followed up to ask specifically if that means that Trump believes that climate change is not man made, Conway responded, “Correct.”
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At the debate Monday night in Hempstead, New York, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said Trump “thinks that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.”
“I think it’s real,” she said.The remark drew a swift rebuttal from Trump, who interrupted Clinton while denying that he ever made such a claim. But Trump has, in fact, called climate change a “hoax” repeatedly, both on Twitter and in media interviews.
In a tweet from 2012, Trump asserted that the “concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
But during her appearance on CNN on Tuesday, Conway stopped short of saying it is a hoax, instead repeating that Trump “believes climate change is naturally occurring.”
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Trump’s stance as outlined by Conway appears at odds with his running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence who told CNN’s Chris Cuomo later Tuesday that humans have some “impact” on climate.
“There’s no question that – that – that the activities that take place in this country and in countries around the world have some impact on the environment and some impact on climate,” Pence said on “New Day.” “But Donald Trump and I say let’s follow the science but for heaven’s sakes, let’s not go rushing into the kind of restrictions on our economy that are putting Americans out of work.”
The scientific community has a near universal consensus that climate change is man made. Multiple scientific journals have said that 97% of climate scientists believe climate change is man made.
CNN’s David Wright contributed to this report.