When Joe Biden created the position of Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC), few understood that the new position would be so secretive in nature. On the surface, the SPEC office is attached to the State Department “to ensure that the United States actively engages on climate, including exercising strong U.S. leadership to increase global climate ambition.”
But in practice the office acts surreptitiously, avoiding congressional scrutiny and oversight, to the point of hiding the names of staffers on FOIA requests. It does this while still negotiating and influencing federal climate policy and, possibly, causing great economic harm as it works to do away with reliable and plentiful fossil fuels in favor of unreliable “renewable” energies such as wind and solar.
Even Congress saw a problem with how the SPEC office was configured and how a curious amount of power was bestowed upon one person — initially former Secretary of State John Kerry — to wield negotiating power for the United States government. Consequently, as part of 2022’s National Defense Authorization Act, the appointment of any State Department special envoy “without the advice and consent of the Senate” was prohibited.
When Democratic insider John Podesta was chosen to replace the retiring Kerry to lead the SPEC office, stomachs that value government transparency instinctively tightened. Recall that it was Podesta who guided Hillary Clinton’s sneaky and ill-fated attempt to win the White House in 2016. It was Podesta who suggested that the campaign “dump all those emails” that existed on the private server Clinton used as secretary of state to conduct government business.
And now it seems those fears that the SPEC office will remain shrouded in secrecy are being realized as the Biden administration has announced that, instead of a straight-up nomination of Podesta to lead the office, it will skirt Senate confirmation of him by changing the name of the position and slightly reshuffling the responsibilities.
In naming Podesta, the Biden administration ditched the “special envoy” title, instead referring to Podesta as a senior adviser to the president for international climate policy. To obfuscate things even more, Podesta’s role will no longer be under the State Department’s purview, although he will still coordinate with the SPEC department’s unknown staff to formulate climate policies.
“Upon Secretary Kerry’s departure, the existing SPEC state team will report to Rich Verma, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources,” a White House official told Fox News Digital. “[Podesta] will continue to oversee the White House Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation while working closely with the State Department.”
Bottom line, the highly suspicious Podesta will avoid any Senate confirmation hearings, even though he will still wield great power with regard to U.S. climate policy.
It’s not sitting well with GOP lawmakers.
“Any appointed administration official that will heavily rely on State Department staff and resources should be accountable to congressional committees with jurisdiction over State, including the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” said Senator James Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“It is not unprecedented for someone serving in the White House to go through Senate confirmation,” Risch continued. “If the Biden administration would like for the role of senior adviser for international climate policy to be effective, it should send Mr. Podesta’s appointment to our committee for consideration.”
Podesta, who has referred to Tung Chee-hwa, a Chinese Communist Party insider, as his “friend from Hong Kong,” has engaged in behind-the-scenes climate activism since the early 2000s. Some fear his close association with the Chinese will be reflected in his dealings as the acting SPEC.
“John Podesta runs a think-tank funded by big tech, he’s spent years working for dark-money climate activists, and has said he has the ‘highest regard’ for CCP officials,” said Missouri Senator Josh Hawley (R). “This man should be nowhere near the federal government, so it’s no shock the Biden Administration wants to avoid Senate confirmation and a public eye on their terrible pick.”
Is the name change for Podesta’s position simply the Biden administration’s way of keeping Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager out of the public eye and avoiding what’s certain to be a rather raucous confirmation hearing? There are certainly reasons for that speculation.
Podesta, for instance, was a person of particular interest when it came to the Steele dossier, which was used to great fanfare as Washington insiders and the mainstream media tried desperately to derail President Donald Trump’s term in office. The Steele dossier was eventually completely discredited and the Clinton campaigned fined for its role in its creation and dissemination of the document.
Podesta also has past peccadilloes that could be brought out in a Senate confirmation hearing.
Clearly, Podesta is not a man you choose if you value transparency as part of the job. So, what exactly is the SPEC office and Biden’s entire climate brain trust hiding?
