by Michael Bastasch, The Daily Caller:

• President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Wednesday with close advisers to discuss creating a commission to scrutinize government climate change reports.


• The commission would be spearheaded by Princeton physicist William Happer, who sees CO2 emissions as a net benefit for the planet.


• Democrats have attacked Happer’s plan, but it’s gotten backing from a vast coalition of conservative groups and activists.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Wednesday with White House officials to discuss creating a commission to scrutinize climate change reports, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Top National Security Council (NSC) officials John Bolton and William Happer will press Trump to create a commission to scrutinize major climate change reports, like last year’s National Climate Assessment, the source told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Should Trump agree, the plan is to issue an executive order creating a climate commission within the NSC, said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity. The White House did not respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment, and with unrest breaking out in Venezuela, such a meeting could be postponed.

The source added that National Economic Council head Larry Kudlow and Kelvin Droegemeier, a meteorologist who heads the Office of Science & Technology Policy, will be among those meeting with Trump to argue against creating a climate commission. (RELATED: Pelosi, Schumer Want To Turn Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Into A Climate Change Bill)

National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks while U.S. President Donald Trump and Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan listen during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts.

Happer, a Princeton physicist, has pushed for Trump to create a commission to scrutinize U.S. military and intelligence claims that global warming is a national security threat. Happer was brought on to the NSC in September to analyze emerging technologies.

Happer’s plan is similar to the failed effort spearheaded by former Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt to hold a “red team” exercise to debate climate science. Pruitt’s plan was heavily criticized and eventually abandoned.

Likewise, Happer’s push for a climate commission has been viciously attacked by politicians and environmentalists. House Democrats opposed Happer’s push for a climate panel, saying his intent was to undermine the “consensus.”

The Democratic chairs of four house committees wrote to Trump over “recent reports that the National Security Council (NSC) is planning to assemble a secret panel, led by a discredited climate change denier, to undermine the overwhelming scientific consensus on the nature and threats of climate change.”

Many conservative activists, on the other hand, have come out in favor of setting up a commission to scrutinize climate claims, including nearly 140 groups and experts who sent a letter of support to Trump in March.

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