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Associated Press
Michael Biesecker is an environmental and energy reporter for Associated Press.
PROFILE
Michael Biesecker
Guest
FROM Michael Biesecker
To the Point
Will coal miners get jobs back without the Paris Accord? After President Trump's controversial decision yesterday to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt took the podium today at the White House briefing room. He called the President's decision "courageous" and was combative with the press. When one reporter said researchers claim Trump misunderstands studies on rising temperatures, Pruitt responded, "The environmental left was very critical of Paris. In fact, James Hansen is an individual who said it was a fake and a fraud, and the head of the Sierra Club said the same thing." Michael Biesecker, energy and environment reporter for the Associated Press , has more on the response to President Trump's decision.
To the Point
Dow asks EPA to stop effort to protect endangered species Research by the Obama Administration showed that a pesticide made by Dow Chemical was linked to brain damage, but the EPA's new director, Scott Pruitt, has refused to ban it. Now Dow wants to delay restrictions on use of the same substance planned by the Obama Administration, which also found that chlorpyrifos is harmful to 1800 endangered species. Michael Biesecker, who covers the environment and energy for the Associated Press , says Dow wants to kill the rick study and begin anew, which would delay implementation of regulations by several years.
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To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?