Jaw-Dropping Revelation – That Corporate Energy Lobbyist Wrote Quotes for Trump – Highlights Corporate Takeover of Administration
Dec. 21, 2018
Jaw-Dropping Revelation – That Corporate Energy Lobbyist Wrote Quotes for Trump – Highlights Corporate Takeover of Administration
Statement of Tyson Slocum, Director, Public Citizen’s Energy Program
Note: When Kathleen Hartnett White was being considered to head the Council on Economic Quality (CEQ), the agency sent her questions from a journalist seeking comment from President Donald Trump, HuffPost reported today. Hartnett White forwarded the questions to a corporate energy lobbyist, who sent answers back. She ccd other energy lobbyists as well. The CEQ sent the answers to the journalist, saying they came from Trump. The emails make clear that the CEQ was aware the answers were supplied by the lobbyists.
Trump opens his mouth and Big Oil talking points come out. Now we know why: Big Oil is scripting his words.
Using energy lobbyists to craft answers to a journalist’s queries on behalf of the president is wildly inappropriate and underscores what we have said for nearly two years: Corporate interests are thoroughly entrenched in this administration. This is far worse than a lobbyist submitting a proposal for the administration to review. Consider: A corporate energy lobbyist wrote quotes for Trump that the administration represented to a reporter as coming from Trump.
This revelation demonstrates the importance of aggressive congressional oversight of the administration’s capture by corporate interests and penchant for taking marching orders from corporate lobbyists.
###