Skip to primary navigation Skip to content
January 15, 2021

Chairwoman Johnson Requests an Investigation into “Climate Change Flyers”

(Washington, DC) – Last night, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) sent a letter to Department of Commerce Inspector General Peggy Gustafson requesting an investigation on a series of papers entitled the ‘Climate Change Flyers’. These flyers published last week, bore the seal of the Executive Office of the President and copyright notice of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) without permission or approval from OSTP leadership. The so-called ‘Climate Change Flyers’ were published on a nongovernment website and make a wide range of disputed claims to undermine widely accepted facts about climate science.

“Dr. Legates’ and Dr. Maue’s actions are the most ham-handed attempt yet by the Trump Administration to deceive the public about the scientific facts of climate change,” said Chairwoman Johnson in a statement. “Fraudulent application of the seal of an agency of the United States to a document or paper is prohibited under U.S. Code. Despite OSTP taking swift action to remove these individuals from their duties and disavow their actions, they remain employed by the Department of Commerce. As a result, I have asked the Office of the Inspector General to initiate an investigation to discover a complete account of Dr. Legates’ inappropriate and potentially illegal campaign to peddle scientific disinformation.”

A copy of the full letter can be found here.