WASHINGTON — Not content with investigating Hunter Biden, House Republicans want White House climate czar John Kerry to explain his role in hammering out agreements with China.
“John Kerry continues to negotiate deals with foreign governments, including the Chinese Communist Party, that potentially undermine the United States’ interests and the Biden administration has refused to respond to Committee requests for information on Kerry’s powerful, unchecked position,” committee Chairman James Comer’s office said in a statement Tuesday.
The request marks at least the fourth time the Oversight Committee’s GOP members have demanded information from Kerry since he told the Associated Press in May 2022 that the US and China were close to agreeing on steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after reaching an understanding at a United Nations climate conference in Glasgow the year before.
“We are going to work on the practicalities of how we move faster,” Kerry said at the time.
“Maybe we can help with technology of some kind to help China move faster. Maybe China could help us better understand some things we could do better.”
Kerry also raised eyebrows last month when he told Yahoo News that the US must “work with” China and Russia to combat climate change — even as tensions with Moscow and Beijing heightened over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s attempts to displace America as the world’s foremost superpower.
In the same interview, Kerry said President Biden had “empowered me to reach out to China and work with China, which we have done for two years, and with some effect.”
Biden created the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) position soon after taking office in January 2021, and Kerry is the first person and only position so far to hold the role.
Since then, House Republicans have demanded to know exactly what the job entails.
“For almost two years, the Biden Administration has refused to respond to requests from the Committee on Oversight and Accountability regarding Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry’s office,” Comer (R-Ky.) wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. ” … We received no response.”
Republican committee members twice last year requested “documents and information” from Kerry’s office “regarding his role as SPEC, a cabinet-level position that does not require Senate confirmation despite his apparent ability to bind the United States to international agreements,” Comer went on.
Now, with the GOP in control of the House, Comer is stepping up his efforts after the White House and State Department ignored the committee’s most recent request for explanations from Feb. 2.
“The State Department has not provided any documents or information,” Comer said.
“Further, the State Department has not provided any meaningful updates to Committee staff inquiries on the status of producing these documents.”
Comer gave Blinken until May 9 to provide the requested documents, which he said would be the “final time [the committee will] request the department to voluntarily produce the documents and information the committee has requested,” according to the Blinken letter.
“Envoy Kerry is engaging in activities that skirt congressional authority, threaten foreign policy under the guise of climate advocacy, and could undermine our economic health,” Comer charged.
“Yet, Envoy Kerry and his office are refusing to be transparent about their activities, spending and staffing with the Committee — and the American people.”
In the letter, Comer requested “all documents and communications” dealing with the budget of Kerry’s office dating back to 2021, as well as a list of those present “at any discussions where elements [of its federal funding]” took place.
Further, the committee wants copies of all communications shared between the SPEC office and any third party, “including but not limited to any environmental advocacy group or foreign government official.”
The committee is also requesting the names, positions and salaries of all employees in the climate envoy’s office, as well as their “ethics and financial disclosures.”
Members also want all records related to Kerry’s domestic and international travel for the job.
“If the department refuses to produce documents and information on this matter, the committee will have to consider other means, including compulsory process,” Comer threatened.
Kerry, who served as secretary of state under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017, came under Republican scrutiny in April 2021 when Iran’s then-Foreign Minister Javad Zarif claimed in a leaked recording that Kerry told him about more than 200 covert Israeli attacks on Iranian interests in Syria during former President Donald Trump’s administration.
“As a general matter we do not comment on communication with Congress. We can confirm we have received the letter and will respond accordingly,” the State Department told The Post.
“The State Department is committed to working with Congressional committees with jurisdiction over US foreign policy to accommodate their need for information to help them conduct oversight for their legitimate legislative purposes.”