Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s staff said it would be “lethal” for the former secretary of state to support taxing carbon dioxide to fight global warming, according to hacked emails.
Campaign spokesman Brian Fallon sent an email to campaign manager Robby Mook inquiring about a Politico article quoting New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer saying a carbon tax would be politically possible if Clinton wins in 2016.
“Policy, is there any chance we go near such a proposal or can we nip this in the bud tonight?” Fallon asked in a June 2015 email released by WikiLeaks.
“I don’t recall any polling to guide us, but I’d be a bit nervous about rushing to say we’d never support such a tax,” Mook responded. “Bernie I assume DOES support such a tax and it could be fodder for him if we say unequivocally now that we don’t support one.”
The email was one of thousands released by WikiLeaks from Clinton ally John Podesta’s hacked Gmail account. The emails give an inside look at how the Clinton campaign carefully plotted out talking points on key issues, like energy and global warming.
Staffers, for example, spent months carefully concealing Clinton’s position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline — even cutting a section on the project out of her book “Hard Choices.”