Did Trump Call Global Warming a Chinese Hoax? (Yes. And Tonight He Lied About It.)

“I do not say that.”

According to Donald Trump, Donald Trump never supported the Iraq war; he never called pregnancy an “inconvenience” for employers; and he certainly never—ever—called climate change a Chinese hoax.

Trump, you’ll be shocked to learn, wasn’t exactly telling the truth. Let’s focus on the climate claim, which you can watch in the video above.

During Monday night’s presidential debate, Hillary Clinton said: “Donald thinks that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. I think it’s real. I think science is real.”

“I did not, I did not,” countered Trump. “I do not say that.”

Clinton is correct. Here’s what Trump tweeted in 2012:

Trump has since suggested that this comment was a joke—a hilarious one, no doubt. Regardless, Trump has repeatedly called global warming a “hoax.” On Fox News in 2014, for instance:

And on Twitter:

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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