"I think the whole question is an effort to get it off the point and the issue of whether Paris is good for this country or not,” Pruitt said. | AP Photo Pruitt dodges another question on Trump climate change beliefs

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt again dodged on Sunday when asked whether President Donald Trump believes that climate change is man-made and accused people asking about his position on the issue of trying to create a distraction from the debate around the Paris climate agreement.

Although Pruitt said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” that Trump has indicated that “the climate changes,” he repeatedly avoided answering whether the president believes the scientific consensus that global temperatures are warming due to human activity, namely carbon emissions.


“Frankly, George, I think the whole question is an effort to get it off the point and the issue of whether Paris is good for this country or not,” Pruitt said. “And the president has indicated the climate changes.”

Trump announced on Thursday that the U.S. intends to exit the Paris accord, a pact reached by more than 190 countries to set targets to reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change.

Trump has previously called climate change a “hoax” manufactured by the Chinese, and after Thursday's announcement, his aides avoided questions about whether he still believes that conspiracy theory.

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In an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” this weekend, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley seemed to suggest that Trump does not buy into that theory.

She said Trump believes that the “climate is changing” and that he believes “pollutants” are part of it, though she did not specify whether he believes global warming is primarily caused by human activity.

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

The former South Carolina governor added: "We've got a president who is going to watch out for the environment. It's what we do, it's who we are."