Exclusive: Republican leaders told Fox News Digital they were concerned about President Biden’s appointment of National Security Advisor John Podesta to replace John Kerry as the nation’s top climate diplomat.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced the changes in a statement late Wednesday, saying Podesta will be in a position to oversee international climate negotiations, especially as countries set their next emissions targets. He said he would play an “important” role. But the appointment of Podesta, who had close ties to Chinese officials, raised concerns within the Republican Party.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement: “For more than two years, the Biden administration has continued to conduct oversight and accountability efforts to bring transparency to the office of Special Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry. “They have resisted and obstructed the efforts of the accountability committee,” it said in a statement. “Mr. Kerry has repeatedly circumvented Congressional authority by ignoring questions about his agreements with foreign governments, his unchecked collusion with left-wing environmental groups, and his negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party.”
“John Podesta, John Kerry’s recently announced successor, has made public comments that give us reason to remain concerned about the nature of negotiations between the Biden administration’s climate envoy and the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. added. “We continue to urge the Biden administration to be transparent about its activities to both the committee and the American people, and we look forward to working with them.”
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President Biden on Wednesday named John Podesta, the White House secretary of clean energy, to replace John Kerry as special presidential envoy for climate change. (Getty Images)
Shortly after Biden selected Podesta to lead the White House Office of Clean Energy Innovation in 2022, Fox News Digital reported that Podesta had previously called Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official Dong Zhehua a “friend” and that Biden He reported that he had answered the phone several times. This report is based on emails reviewed and verified by Fox News Digital.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin.The chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said: “The Biden administration is under the illusion that somehow they can strike a big climate deal with China and we can all sing ‘Kumbaya’ of sunshine and rainbows. “I’m working hard,” he added.
“They have an interest in undermining U.S. leadership. And we will give them significant support by unilaterally disarming them, as the Biden administration is doing with its misguided energy strategy.” ,” Gallagher told FOX News Digital. “Negotiating with these people is a waste of carbon. China has no interest in climate change.”
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In February 2015, days after Podesta left the Obama administration, his aide Erin Sepp received a call on his “home phone” from Dong Zhehe, the longtime vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. I was told that I would be receiving it. (CPPCC). According to the US government, the CPPCC is a “key coordinating body” that brings together Chinese interest groups and is led by the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China.
Tong Chihua (YouTube/Screenshot)
A few weeks later, Sepp’s and Thung’s offices exchanged emails and arranged for another phone call between Podesta and Thung. And in June 2015, Mr. Podesta told Melanie Hart, now a China policy adviser at the State Department, that he would speak to Mr. Tung again in the near future and that Mr. Tung could set up a future meeting. In another communication several months later, Podesta referred to Tung as his “friend from Hong Kong.”
Additional emails reviewed by Fox News Digital show that Podesta had multiple phone calls with Tan in late 2015 and early 2016, including calls in July, August, September, January and March. We also held talks. Mr. Podesta chaired former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
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Additionally, Podesta and Tan had been collaborating on research projects for several years, including co-authoring a 2013 paper on U.S.-China relations for the Center for American Progress, which Podesta founded in 2003. In May 2013, Tan and Podesta spoke at a luncheon they hosted. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in which Cui Tiankai, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, also participates.
Podesta listens to President Biden’s speech at a cabinet meeting at the White House on September 6, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“For the past four years, [the] “The Center for American Progress and the China-America Exchange Foundation co-hosted the U.S.-China Track II Dialogue and will continue to host this dialogue every year,” Podesta said during the event.
“I have the utmost respect for Mr. CH Tung’s tireless efforts to bring our two countries closer together,” he said. “He’s always looking ahead, anticipating new challenges in the U.S.-China relationship and thinking about what he can do to make those challenges more manageable.”
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Later in the event, Mr. Podesta introduced Mr. Tung and asked attendees to thank him for his leadership. Mr. Tung later thanked Mr. Podesta for his “inspiring speech.”
US climate change envoy John Kerry is greeted by China’s top diplomat Wang Yi before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 18, 2023. (Florence Lopool/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, while serving as the U.S. presidential special envoy on climate change, Mr. Kerry attended global climate change summits and diplomatic activities to promote an aggressive transition from fossil fuel power generation to green energy alternatives. I have traveled inside. As part of these efforts, Mr. Kerry has repeatedly negotiated climate policy with Chinese diplomats.
But while China is tightening the green energy supply chain, it is also expanding coal-fired power generation to sustain its huge economy. In 2022, the country authorized a whopping 106 gigawatts of electricity. New coal-fired power plant capacityabout four times the amount allowed in 2021, according to an analysis published by the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research and the Global Energy Monitor.
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According to the American Geosciences Institute, burning coal emits more carbon than burning other fossil fuels. Coal power generation can have up to twice the carbon footprint of natural gas.
China already accounts for about 27% Global greenhouse gas emissions, according to Rhodium Group. The country’s emissions are three times the total of the United States, the world’s second-largest emitter.
