We don’t ever recall reading so much in the press about the inner workings of a presidential transition team, but all of a sudden it appears the Obama administration finally decided to become transparent and they’re leaking all the details in the hopes it will hurt Trump.
First it was the Energy Department that leaked Trump’s transition team asked for “a list of the top 20 salaried employees of the labs, the labs’ peer-reviewed publications over the past three years, a list of their professional society memberships, affiliations, and the websites they maintain or contribute to during working hours.”
Democratic U.S. Reps. Ed Perlmutter and Diana DeGette were duly outraged, because climate change.
Now the State Department is leaking that the Trump administration is interested in how much money the agency is sending to international environmental groups.
As part of a list of questions posed last week to the department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, the Trump landing team asked, “How much does the Department of State contribute annually to international environmental organizations in which the department participates?”
The individuals familiar with the request spoke on the condition of anonymity because transition communications are confidential.
Once again, the State Department outdoes itself in mishandling confidential information. We, are not surprised.
Bureaucrats are crying that the questions are proof that Trump wants to let the Earth burn under climate change.
We see wasteful spending that could be eliminated, like that $77 billion the story says was spent during a five-year period on climate change initiatives, or the $3 billion Obama pledged to the Green Climate Fund, a multi-national fund that helps poor people adapt to severe climate impacts, whatever those are.
The State Department has not actually responded to the Trump transition team. They leaked to the media, instead.