Washington (CNN) The Trump administration's nominee to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency repeatedly said Thursday he doesn't know the reasons behind climate change, despite his agency often being in the position of responding to the crisis' impacts.

The nominee, Pete Gaynor, made the comments when he was asked at his confirmation hearing whether climate change is real.

"The climate has changed. I cannot attribute the scientific reasons why," Gaynor, currently FEMA's deputy administrator, said when questioned by Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware.

Gaynor explained at the hearing that he realizes hurricanes have become "more frequent, more intense, closer together" but that he cannot explain why because he is "not a scientist."

"I'm not either," Carper responded. "There are a lot of scientists in the world and they are pretty much in unanimity in what's going on. What do you think is going on?"

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