No more free sailing for John Kerry, Republicans to grill him Thursday
- July 11, 2023
Kerry has been criss-crossing the globe and holding high-level meetings, with little oversight, since being named President Biden’s first-ever Special Envoy for Climate on Jan. 20, 2021. His office has informed the Herald he only reports to the president.
Michael Chamberlain, director of the government ethics watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust, said the hearing is long overdue.
“Though the Biden Administration has claimed to be the most transparent in history, Protect the Public’s Trust, the Boston Herald, and other watchdogs and media outlets have been trying to pierce the veil of John Kerry’s secretive Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate since its inception,” Chamberlain said Monday.
He added the only luck they’ve had is through litigation demanding Kerry abide by public records requests.
“What documents they have been forced to hand over reveal apparent attempts to skirt federal record-keeping requirements, outsource foreign climate policy to environmental special interests, and avoid disclosing even mundane details about the office, its personnel, and activities. Maybe the Foreign Affairs Committee will be more successful in prying information from John Kerry’s office,” he added.
Emails show Kerry has a “proposed staff” of 45 positions. That’s the same-sized office set up to combat ISIS, his staffers pointed out in emails obtained by Protect the Public’s Trust.