by Coral Davenport
New York Times

WASHINGTON — New efforts by President Trump and his staff to question or undermine the established science of climate change have created a widening rift between the White House on one side, and scientific facts, government agencies, and some leading figures in the president’s own party on the other.

The president’s senior advisers are exploring the idea of creating a panel aimed at questioning the National Climate Assessment. According to a White House memo, the group would include William Happer, a Princeton physicist who has asserted that carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas that scientists say is trapping heat and warming the planet — is beneficial to humanity…

“For Republicans who believe pollsters, pollsters are telling them, ‘people care about climate,’ ” said Steven J. Milloy, a member of Mr. Trump’s E.P.A. transition team who now runs a website aimed at casting doubt on the established science of human-caused climate change.

Mr. Milloy and other Republican strategists also said that within the White House, millennial Republican staffers were pushing back at the effort to create the new panel.

“If you’re 30 years old and work at the White House, it’s not clear that this effort is a good idea,” said Mr. Milloy.

But he added that for Mr. Trump’s base of supporters, none of that matters. “People like me, we love the guy.”

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