White House chief of staff John Kelly thwarted an effort by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt to hold public debates challenging climate science, the New York Times reported Friday, citing unnamed people familiar with the deliberations.
Pruitt proposed the debates last year, calling for a “red team, blue team” exercise that would evaluate the science behind climate change. Trump was interested in the idea, according to the New York Times.
However, Kelly and other officials opposed Pruitt’s idea and set out to quash the effort, per the New York Times. At a meeting in December, Kelly’s deputy at the time, Rick Dearborn, told officials at a White House meeting that Kelly considered the idea “dead,” and other aides in the meeting were also opposed to the debates, according to the New York Times.
Read the full New York Times report here.