NW Kentucky News

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is continuing the committee’s investigation into the office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC). Following repeated denials of records requests by the Biden-Harris Administration, the Oversight Committee is now requesting transcribed interviews to aid its inquiry. In a letter to White House Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy John Podesta, Chairman Comer has requested a transcribed interview regarding Mr. Podesta’s transition to assume SPEC office responsibilities and his coordination with former Climate Envoy John Kerry. Additionally, in a letter to U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken, Chairman Comer has requested transcribed interviews with SPEC employees and mentioned the possibility of compulsory processes for outstanding document requests.

“The Biden Administration has taken affirmative actions to obfuscate oversight of the SPEC office by elevating you as a Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, thereby insulating your new role. We believe that you have information that will assist us fully in understanding the coordination you maintain with both the Department and former Envoy Kerry on SPEC-related matters,” Chairman Comer wrote to Mr. Podesta.

Since 2021, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee has made repeated requests related to Envoy Kerry’s role, but documents were only produced after Chairman Comer threatened compulsory processes. The committee's investigation into SPEC activities revealed that the State Department sought feedback from environmental groups, allowing these groups to influence U.S. foreign policy. This raises concerns that confidential information related to U.S. foreign policy, energy policy, and national security may have been shared with these groups.

“The State Department has demonstrated a pattern of noncompliance with congressional inquiries which has prevented full transparency of the SPEC office’s activities. Only after the threat of compulsory process did the Department release some documents and communications revealing a sophisticated and targeted coordination between leftist environmental groups and the SPEC office that undermines U.S. foreign policy, energy policy, and national security policy,” Chairman Comer wrote to Secretary Blinken.

Read more:

- Letter to Mr. John Podesta

- Letter to Honorable Antony Blinken