Washington: The day after President Donald Trump announced that the United States will exit the Paris climate deal, Kellyanne Conway appeared on ABC News' Good Morning America and was asked this question: Does the president still believe global warming is a hoax?

Here's how Conway, a counsellor to the president, responded: "The president believes in a clean environment, clean air, clean water. He has received awards as a businessman, in that regard." (The Washington Post's fact-checkers have yet to find any evidence of those awards.)

When ABC's George Stephanopoulos pressed Conway to answer the question, she responded: "You need to ask him that, and I hope that you have your chance."

As Trump's aides explain his decision to leave the agreement – despite protests from members of his own administration, environmental experts, corporate titans and fellow foreign leaders – they have danced around the issue that is at its heart: climate change.