On Tuesday, President Donald Trump doubled down on his green claims from just one day ago, again insisting that he is “to a large extent, an environmentalist.”
His latest comment was made during an early morning meeting with automakers at the White House.
“I am, to a large extent, an environmentalist. I believe in it, but — it’s out of control,” Trump said while sitting at the table with the automaker CEOs to talk about job creation.
“I am, to a large extent, an environmentalist. I believe in it, but — it’s out of control,” President Trump tells automaker CEOs pic.twitter.com/G6BywGdV8d
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) January 24, 2017
On Monday, Trump made a similar claim while meeting with businessmen on his first full working day at the White House.
“I’m a very big person when it comes to the environment,” Trump said. I have received awards on the environment.”
Trump’s environmental boasts were a regular feature of his campaign trail talk and his claim of winning “many awards” go as far back as 2011, when he bragged about his environmental track record on Fox News.
It is also not true.
WaPo fact checkers looked into his claims and could find nothing to support that he was praised by environmental groups, but could find plenty of criticism lodged at Trump.
Media outlets and environmental groups have tried to find evidence of this claim since 2011 but have come up short. We could not readily find references to Trump’s environmental awards in news coverage over the past 10 years. We checked with the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Sierra Club, and none had any record of Trump’s environmental awards.
In fact, environmentalists have criticized many of Trump’s projects. In 2008, Trump faced backlash from local officials and environmentalists in Scotland when he proposed to build a golf course on protected sand dunes. During a hearing on the project, Trump called the state of the site “kind of disgusting.”
Trump’s actions as president also have not supported the environment. He has already promised to cut regulations — including important environmental safeguards — by 75 percent “or more” to help businesses.
Trump also plans to sign an executive order on Tuesday that will impact the Keystone XL pipeline.