House GOP Investigating John Kerry, Alleging ‘Collusion With Leftist Environmental Groups’

Congressional Republicans are focusing on President Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, over what Congressman James Comer claims is “collusion with leftist environmental groups,” demanding documents about staffing at the State Department.Mr. Comer requested from Mr. Kerry’s office “additional documents and information related to interactions between Envoy Kerry and nongovernmental organizations,” in a letter on Wednesday.“Documents received by the Committee illustrate that the coordination and briefings are anything but ordinary,” Mr. Comer said. “The past, present, and future activities of the SPEC office, including under the stewardship of Envoy Kerry’s replacement, John Podesta, necessitate transparency and accountability.”At issue are the names and salaries of the individuals who work in the office. In 2022, the State Department approved the office and gave it a $13.9 million budget. In fiscal year 2024, roughly $69 billion was allocated towards international affairs.A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Boston Herald disclosed that $4.3 million of this budget is dedicated to staff. In 2022 the office was approved to hire 45 personnel, though the office declined to comment on whether this figure was correct.Mr. Comer also took issue with Mr. Kerry’s alleged coordination with “leftist environmental groups,” claiming Mr. Kerry, who is a former U.S. senator, secretary of state, and Democratic presidential nominee, was encouraging groups to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance.Though the specific “leftist” groups are not named in the letter, a document released from the climate envoy’s office shows communications with email addresses that appear to be associated with E3G, National Resource Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, World Resources Institute, and Sierra Club.The Powering Past Coal Alliance is a group of governments and private entities, including state governments like Colorado, national governments like the United Kingdom, and private entities like the United Church of Canada, aimed at phasing out coal power plants globally.“The American people deserve to understand Kerry’s cabinet-level role in the Biden Administration, how their tax dollars are being spent, and what closed-door deals his office is making with any climate group or country,” Mr. Comer tells the Sun of his investigation.Mr. Comer added “Climate Envoy John Kerry used his position of power to negotiate with the Chinese Communist Party to push a radical, Green New Deal agenda detrimental to American interests.”In terms of documents, Mr. Comer is demanding that the Special Presidential Climate Envoy’s office produce any documents containing the words “kitchen cabinet,” “off the record,” or “funding gap,” as well as any communication between one of Mr. Kerry’s emails and “any nongovernmental organization.”Mr. Comer’s claims echo those made by the president of a pro-coal lobbying group, Powering the Future, Daniel Turner, a former GOP staffer who is now suing the Special Climate Envoy’s office.“I ask @realDonaldTrump to next year appoint me ‘Fossil Fuel Czar’ and hide me in the Federal Government with a secret staff and budget allowing me to bypass Congressional oversight and FOIA laws,” Mr. Turner said in a tweet regarding his lawsuit.The new attention from Republicans and the fossil fuel industry comes as Mr. Kerry is leaving his role in the administration and being replaced by a senior advisor to the president for clean energy, Mr. Podesta, who was President Clinton’s White House chief of staff and Senator Clinton’s 2016 campaign chair, and who held a similar climate-related role in the Obama Administration.Mr. Kerry’s office has said that the former senator and state secretary will be joining Mr. Biden’s re-election effort in a statement to Reuters.The Special Presidential Climate Envoy’s office declined to comment.

House GOP Investigating John Kerry, Alleging ‘Collusion With Leftist Environmental Groups’

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