WASHINGTON – Today, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is calling on U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken to provide unredacted documents and communications related to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry’s collusion with leftist environmental groups and all information on the composition of the SPEC office and payroll. Documents reviewed by the Committee show the Biden Administration sought to hide and obfuscate the influence radical environmental organizations have over U.S. foreign policy through Envoy Kerry and the documents raise further questions regarding possible conflicts of interests involving SPEC staff’s ties to these climate groups.
“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is continuing its investigation into the activities of the office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC),” wrote Chairman Comer. “The Committee has reviewed documents showing attempts to hide and obfuscate the influence leftist environmental organizations have over U.S. foreign policy through Envoy Kerry, who recently announced plans to depart from his role. 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. We request additional documents and information related to interactions between Envoy Kerry and nongovernmental organizations. In addition, we demand that State immediately produce unredacted versions of documents we have repeatedly requested related to the composition of the SPEC office and payroll, especially as State has now released heavily redacted versions of these documents in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.”
Since 2021, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee has made repeated requests related to Envoy Kerry’s role in the Biden Administration but the Administration only began producing documents and communications after Chairman Comer threatened the compulsory process. Thousands of documents since produced to the Oversight Committee contain off-the-record email correspondence, calls, and meetings between leftist environmental groups, Envoy Kerry, SPEC office staff, and the State Department. The State Department has not released any requested information to the Committee regarding the ethics and financial disclosures of past or present SPEC staff, nor any comprehensive information relating to SPEC staff identities, titles, and payroll.
“Documents received by the Committee illustrate that the coordination and briefings are anything but ordinary,” continued Chairman Comer. “The Committee is troubled by the frequency and content of financial-related information discussed at ‘off the record’ meetings between the State Department, SPEC office, and outside groups considering that the Biden Administration has proposed $1 trillion dollars in climate investments over the next ten years. The American people deserve to know what is being promised by Secretary Kerry and SPEC staff in off-the-record meetings with leftist environmental groups and whether SPEC staff are undermining U.S. foreign policy, energy policy, and national security policy and discuss climate investments.”
Read the letter to Secretary Blinken here.