An Exxon sign at a Exxon gas station. | AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File Schneiderman says a 'dark money machine' is bolstering Exxon's push against his office

Exxon’s legal challenges to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s investigation into potential fraud over the company's handling of climate change data with investors is being aided by a conservative “dark money machine” that holds sway over the public debate in parts of the country, Schneiderman said during a forum on public integrity in Manhattan on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Exxon added Schneiderman’s name to a suit filed in Texas federal court over efforts by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s demand for documents that are part of a broader effort by Healey, Schneiderman and other state attorneys general looking into Exxon’s actions. Exxon has claimed Schneiderman’s interests are political rather than legal in nature and amount to a conspiracy.


On Wednesday, Schneiderman said Exxon’s legal strategy rested on claims the alleged conspiracy violated the company’s First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

“They’re saying this is just a political effort to silence dissenting views on climate change,” the attorney general said.

The problem with that argument, according to Schneiderman, is that no constitutional amendment protects a company or individual’s right to defraud.

“The First Amendment is not designed to protect three-card monte dealers,” Schneiderman said. “You can’t commit fraud and argue, ‘Oh, I’m exercising my First Amendment rights.’”

Schneiderman accused a host of conservative groups he called “a dark money empire” — naming Americans for Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation and the Competitive Enterprise Institute specifically — of directing a disinformation campaign aimed at bolstering Exxon’s case.

“It’s like they pulled a lever on the dark money machine,” he said, adding that after the initial action was taken against Exxon, “60 or 70 op-ed columns or editorials” appeared “attacking me all over America” within weeks.

“The challenge is, in most media markets in the country, all people have heard is the other side of the argument because [the conservative groups’] infrastructure is so remarkable,” Schneiderman said.

Schneiderman said he turned to a veteran of the climate change battles, former vice president Al Gore, after being bombarded in public over his office’s actions.

“He started laughing at me,” Schneiderman said, before affecting his best Tennessean accent to impersonate Gore. “‘He he he, I guess I should have warned you — welcome to my world. Eh eh eh.’”

The attorney general said neither the efforts in the press nor in court would dissuade his office’s pursuit of Exxon.

“The scope of the reaction tells me we’re on to something,” he said.