President Obama flipped the script on Republicans on the science behind climate change, admitting he's not a scientist, but he knows "a lot of really good" ones.

"I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act," Obama said Tuesday night. "Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what — I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities."

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The president said he trusts "the best scientists in the world" that are saying "our activities are changing the climate."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE (R-Ky.), and Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio) have often used the line when arguing against the administration's climate agenda.

He stressed that if the U.S. doesn't "act forcefully," the country will see more rising oceans, longer heat waves, droughts, floods, and disruptions that can "trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe."

"The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security," Obama said. "We should act like it."