Greenpeace Calls BS After Trump Cites 'Paid Lobbyist' Masquerading as Co-Founder to Peddle Climate Denial

President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to boost "Greenpeace co-founder" Patrick Moore's claim on "Fox & Friends" that the climate crisis is "not only fake news, it's fake science."

"Moore often misrepresents himself in the media as an environmental 'expert' or even an 'environmentalist,' while offering anti-environmental opinions on a wide range of issues."
—GreenpeaceBut as Greenpeace USA quickly noted in response to the president's tweet, Patrick Moore is a "paid lobbyist" for major polluting industries—and he's not even a co-founder of Greenpeace.

"Patrick Moore was not a co-founder of Greenpeace. He does not represent Greenpeace," the group wrote on Twitter. "He is a paid lobbyist, not an independent source. His statements about [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and the Green New Deal have nothing to do with our positions."

During his "Fox & Friends" appearance, Moore—who became president of Greenpeace Canada in 1977 and left in 1986—called the Green New Deal "a silly plan" and said climate change is "not dangerous."

"Yes, of course climate change is real, it's been happening since the beginning of time, but it's not dangerous and it's not made by people," Moore said. "Climate change is a perfectly natural phenomenon."

While Greenpeace has been and remains a key backer of the Green New Deal, a detailed backgrounder on the group's website explains how "Moore often misrepresents himself in the media as an environmental 'expert' or even an 'environmentalist,' while offering anti-environmental opinions on a wide range of issues and taking a distinctly anti-environmental stance."

"He also exploits long-gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes," the group notes. "Moore has been a paid spokesman for a variety of polluting industries for more than 30 years, including the timber, mining, chemical and the aquaculture industries... Mr. Moore has now worked for polluters for far longer than he ever worked for Greenpeace."