Haley: Trump 'believes the climate is changing'

Tom Vanden Brook | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Nikki Haley: President Trump believes "climate is changing" "President Trump believes the climate is changing," she said on CNN's "State of the Union." ''And he believes pollutants are part of that equation. So that is the fact."

President Trump believes climate change is real and human activity contributes to it, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told CBS on Saturday.

Haley's statement follows two days of evading questions by the White House on Trump's beliefs on global warming, which in the past he has referred to as a "hoax."

Haley told CBS' Face The Nation repeatedly in an interview scheduled for broadcast Sunday that Trump acknowledges the climate is changing. On Thursday, he announced that he was withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Paris climate agreement that seeks to limit global warming through cuts in carbon emissions.

"The president believes the climate is changing," Haley said. "And he does know that pollutants are a part of that equation."

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Abiding by the U.S. commitment would have damaged the U.S. economy, Trump said Thursday. On Friday, White House officials declined to say if Trump agreed with the scientific consensus that human activity contributes to climate change. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said he hadn't spoken to the president about it.

Trump, Haley said, remains committed to ensuring clean air and water.