FALMOUTH, Maine (AP) — Maine Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree says she has invited a former government scientist who filed a whistleblower complaint to President Donald Trump’s upcoming State of the Union address.
Joel Clement, a Falmouth native and climate policy expert, made national headlines in 2017 when he alleged that Department of the Interior officials retaliated against his outspoken comments on the threat of climate change by reassigning him. The Portland Press Herald reports Pingree invites Clement the same week she was named vice chairwoman of a congressional subcommittee that oversees the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Clement says he isn’t expecting Trump to comment on climate change during the speech, other than potentially “snide comments” about the recent winter weather that plunged the nation into freezing conditions.
