White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Tuesday doubled down on President Obama’s claim that climate change poses a greater threat to more Americans than terrorism.
“There are many more people on an annual basis who have to confront the impact of climate change or the spread of a disease” than terrorism,” Earnest told reporters.
“When you’re talking about the direct, daily impact of these kinds of challenges on the daily lives of Americans. … more people are directly impacted by those things than terrorism,” he added.
In an interview with Vox published this week, Obama said the media “absolutely” overstates the scope of the terror threat to most Americans.
“Climate change is one that is happening at such a broad scale and at such a complex system, it’s a hard story for the media to tell on a day-to-day basis,” Obama said in the extensive interview.
The Obama spokesman’s comments came just hours after the president confirmed the death of American Kayla Mueller, who had been held captive by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
