Nikki Haley insisted Trump "knows that it's changing and that the U.S. has to be responsible for it and that's what we're going to do." | AP Photo Does Trump believe in climate change? Nikki Haley says yes.

President Donald Trump "believes the climate is changing" and the United Sates "has to be responsible" for the environment, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Saturday.

"President Trump believes the climate is changing, and he believes pollutants are part of the equation," Haley said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" to be broadcast Sunday.


Trump announced Thursday that the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, saying that he considers the agreement harmful to the U.S. and puts the country at an "economic disadvantage." He has in the past dismissed climate change as a Chinese-inspired "hoax."

Haley insisted the president "knows that it's changing and that the U.S. has to be responsible for it, and that's what we're going to do."

"Just because the U.S. got out of a club doesn't mean we aren't going to care about the environment," she said.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer wouldn't say during a press briefing on Tuesday whether Trump believes human activity contributed to climate change, saying “Honestly, I haven’t asked him."

Haley was the first administration official to speak on the issue after the event announcing the pullout in the Rose Garden on Thursday.