EPA chief defends Trump's action on climate accord

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt took to the podium Friday to defend President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris global climate accord.

"We have nothing to be apologetic about as a country," Pruitt said. "We have lowered our CO2 footprint to levels of the 1990s."

President Trump has repeatedly called climate change a hoax.  When asked if the president still believes that and to answer either "yes" or "no," Pruitt said: "You know what's interesting about all the discussions we've had over the last several weeks have been focused on one singular issue -- is Paris good or not for this country. That's the discussions I've had with the president."

The U.S. is now in the company of Syria and Nicaragua as the only countries not participating in the first global effort to combat climate change. 194 countries have agreed to limit their carbon emissions.

The outcry is splashed across newspapers throughout Europe. One headline in Paris reads "CLIMATE GOODBYE AMERICA."

In response to Trump's decision, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Disney CEO Bob Iger are both resigning from the president's advisory councils. Executives with Google, Amazon, General Electric, Microsoft, and IBM are also among those in corporate America blasting Trump's decision. 

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is pulling together business leaders, mayors, governors (including Gov. Andrew Cuomo), and university presidents who are committed to upholding the Paris accord in their communities and states.

"So if a locality, a municipality, or state wants to enact a policy that their voters or their citizens believe then that's what they should do," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

The other hot topic: fired FBI Director James Comey will testify about Russia before the Senate intelligence committee on June 8. Comey is expected to say that Trump tried to get him to drop his investigation of former national security adviser Mike Flynn. Trump could block Comey's testimony by invoking what is called executive privilege.