On Thursday, former U.S. diplomat Ric Grenell told Newsmax that the European Union's move to consider nuclear energy and natural gas "green" proves that the term was always politically motivated.
"The whole liberal crazy idea is the point," Grenell said on "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "Whatever they can jam into — if they can redefine what energy means and it can fit nicely into the green camp, then it will get subsidies, and it will get pushed."
Grenell, who served as ambassador to Germany under then-President Donald Trump, explained that then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel's theory that her country "would never be outleveraged by Russia" led to a series of energy policy mistakes.
Merkel "is the one who got rid of nuclear energy, got rid of coal — at least started to slide away from coal." But now, rather than admitting she was wrong, "we're now just rewriting the definition of what it means to be green," Grenell said.
Grenell later condemned a recent push by House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., to classify documents related to the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan, woke training policies and vaccine mandates.
"Political people can decide to say to the public, 'You don't get to read this because it's classified.' It's a way for me, as someone who has a top security clearance, can just say, 'Well, you don't understand. You don't get to see what I see.' And, inherent in that idea, is a trust factor," he said.
"When I burn my trust, and I lie to the public about classified information, the public is justifiably angry, and they won't believe you the next time you say, 'You don't get to look at this. You have to trust me. It's classified information.'"
Grenell then laid out Schiff's history during the impeachments of Trump and advocated greater government transparency.
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