(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Republicans in Congress intensified their investigation into Joe Biden’s illegal appointment of John Podesta, a notorious Pizzagate leader, as a replacement for an ex-“climate change” tsar John Kerry, accusing the White House of doing an end-run around a law requiring Senate confirmation of special envoys.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer wrote that the decision to make Podesta the country’s chief “climate change” diplomat — even though he will remain at the White House and is taking on the duties of a special presidential envoy — is a “flagrant attempt to evade” the law, BNN Bloomberg reported.
The news source reported that Republicans are concerned about a one-year-old mandate for Senate confirmation of anyone serving as a special envoy or in another position performing similar functions.
In addition to that, this requirement never applied to Kerry because he was appointed before it was enacted.
“[It] is unclear to what extent [Podesta] will retain the same powers” and the specific details of his relationship with the State Department’s climate envoy office since he took on Kerry’s duties, according to Comer.
The committee requested documents that could shed light on Podesta’s role and responsibilities as well as changes in the office’s organization, the news source added.
The climate envoy office’s work under Kerry, who stepped down last week, had been investigated by the committee before that.
Podesta, now formally the senior advisor to the president for international climate policy, is remaining at the White House, with the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate still operating and reporting to the deputy secretary of State for management and resources.
“The committee has concerns that the State Department and the White House will deliberately complicate future congressional oversight requests on the grounds that Mr. Podesta is simultaneously a White House employee and a State Department leader,” Comer wrote in the letter.
