One-time presidential candidate and former Secretary of State John Kerry wasn’t elected to his current position as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate—nor was he confirmed by Congress for the cabinet-level role. In fact, President Joe Biden created simply created the title and appointed Kerry to fill it, which conveniently does not require congressional approval.
But the unelected, unconfirmed “Climate Czar” has been holding private meetings with his Chinese counterparts, and House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) wants to know why. In February, Comer served notice that his committee would investigate the matter, and on Friday he doubled down, saying the committee was going to subject Kerry and his activities to “intense scrutiny”:
“For the past two years, the Biden Administration has withheld information on John Kerry’s role within the Administration despite the committee’s many requests,” Comer told Fox News Digital in a statement. “He was not confirmed by the Senate. He is not held accountable by the American people. He is skirting congressional oversight and that is unacceptable.”
Comer also sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting all documents and information related to the activities and budget of the SPEC and said he expects “full cooperation” from the State Department. Fox Digital opines that it’s not even clear that Blinken has authority over Kerry, adding that they have obtained department emails that suggest that Kerry is “on the same level” as the congressionally-confirmed Blinken.
Comer had more to say, pointing out that it’s extremely problematic that Kerry negotiates directly with the Chinese Communist Party despite zero congressional oversight:
His [Kerry’s] reported upcoming negotiations with the Chinese on climate topics, an action which he has done on numerous occasions, is inappropriate and potentially undermines U.S. interests and domestic energy security.
Kerry’s continued engagement in shady negotiations will be met with intense scrutiny by the committee.
The Oversight Chair made similar remarks on Fox Business in a recent appearance with Maria Bartiromo in which he threatened to subpoena the windsurfing politico:
John Kerry strikes deals with foreign governments, including the Chinese Communist Party, that potentially undermine the United States’ interests.
The Biden Administration has refused to provide @GOPoversight any info.
One way or another, we will get answers. @MariaBartiromo pic.twitter.com/UgSIbIjvMw
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) May 2, 2023
Comer told Bartiromo (emphasis mine):
We see it on TV, John Kerry jet-setting it over to China to negotiate climate deals with our number one adversary in the world. We have no idea what authority John Kerry has; he was never confirmed by the Senate. We don’t know what his budget is. We don’t even know what he’s negotiating, and this is very concerning.
We’ve been requesting from the Biden administration for two years an answer as to what exactly John Kerry’s authority is and what exactly he’s doing, and they will not respond to us. So it’s given us really no options but to eventually issue a subpoena to John Kerry; he’s going to come in front of our committee and we have a lot of questions for him. And you know, the fact that we have to subpoena him—that says a lot about this administration and their lack of transparency.
It’s also concerning that we’re making deals on climate when China produces much more emissions than we do—more than all developed countries combined in 2019, in fact—yet they’re not crippling their economy like we are with an ever-expanding war on fossil fuels. Then there’s the matter of China’s human rights record, which is extremely problematic with forced labor, political imprisonments, and their alleged brutal treatment of the Uyghurs at the top of the list of concerns.
China’s ‘Counter-Espionage Law’ expands its scope of application; more dissidents facing arrest
The new law will take effect from July 1, with broad parameters related to “national interests protection.” Human rights defenders fear the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has given… pic.twitter.com/CvNqmyK7GH
— Spotlight on China (@spotlightoncn) May 3, 2023
The famously tone-deaf, holier-than-thou Kerry has struck a “who cares?” tone on the rights issue before:
“Well we’re honest about the differences,” Kerry said in 2021 when asked about human rights abuses connected to China’s green energy supply chain. “We certainly know what they are, and we’ve articulated them, but that’s not my lane here … My job is to be the climate guy and stay focused on trying to move the climate agenda forward.” [Emphasis mine.]
Kerry has been flying around the globe in private jets since he took on the mantle of “envoy,” meeting twice in China with CCP officials for private talks and attending climate summits and the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland. On Wednesday, he announced that the CCP has invited him to visit “in the near term” for yet more climate chat.
As my colleague Mike Miller reported, Kerry was especially narcissistic in his January Davos appearance, seeming to claim he was some sort of super being:
When you start to think about it, it’s pretty extraordinary that we — [a] select group of human beings because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives — are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet.
James Comer was not a politician that I was particularly familiar with before this latest session of Congress, but since the GOP took back control of the House and is thus in the position to actually investigate some of what’s going on in the dangerous Biden administration, I’ve been impressed by his doggedness and desire to get to the truth.
We may not get the accountability we want for some of these folks, but at least Comer is asking the right uncomfortable questions.
More on Kerry:
An ‘Almost Extraterrestrial Plan’ – Climate Lunatic John Kerry Offers His Most Ridiculous Take Yet
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