--- title: Donald Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Climate Change description: A senior adviser to Donald Trump said the new administration will cut back on what he described as "politicized" climate change research canonical: https://time.com/4581681/donald-trump-climate-change-nasa/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-23T18:17:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:59:05.702Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Climate Change og:description: A top adviser said Trump will cut back on "politicized" climate change research og:url: https://time.com/4581681/donald-trump-climate-change-nasa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77357dd83c5b69cf/6988afa48e0601b371468620/donald-trump-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4607 og:image:height: 2591 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Weekend Meetings In Bedminster, NJ og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Climate Change twitter:description: A top adviser said Trump will cut back on "politicized" climate change research twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77357dd83c5b69cf/6988afa48e0601b371468620/donald-trump-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Climate Change > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Nov 23, 2016 6:17 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump stands outside the clubhouse at Trump International Golf Club on Nov. 20, 2016 in Bedminster Township, New Jersey. President-elect Donald Trump stands outside the clubhouse at Trump International Golf Club on Nov. 20, 2016 in Bedminster Township, New Jersey. Drew Angerer—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Nov 23, 2016 6:17 PM UTC A senior adviser to Donald Trump said the [new administration will cut back](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research) on what he described as “politicized” climate change research, indicating plans to eliminate funding for NASA’s Earth science division. “We see NASA in an exploration role, in deep space research,” Bob Walker, Trump’s top NASA adviser, [told the _Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research). “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission. My guess is that it would be difficult to stop all ongoing NASA programs, but future programs should definitely be placed with other agencies. I believe that climate research is necessary, but it has been heavily politicized, which has undermined a lot of the work that researchers have been doing. Mr. Trump’s decisions will be based upon solid science, not politicized science.” Walker’s comments align with some of Trump’s previous remarks on climate change. The president-elect has dismissed global warming as a [myth created by China](http://time.com/4509488/donald-trump-climate-change-hoax/)—whose [officials have refuted that claim](http://time.com/4573687/china-donald-trump-climate-change/). But asked on Tuesday about his approach to climate change during his [meeting with the New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/us/politics/trump-new-york-times-interview-transcript.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur), Trump said he is keeping an “open mind.” “I have a very open mind,” he said. “And I’m going to study a lot of the things that happened on it and we’re going to look at it very carefully. But I have an open mind.” Trump said he thinks “there is some connectivity” between human activity and climate change—an answer that differs from previous statements. His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, [said in September](http://time.com/4509488/donald-trump-climate-change-hoax/) that Trump “believes that global warming is naturally occurring,” not man-made. Walker’s comments drew criticism from some scientists, as nearly all climate scientists agree that humans are contributing to climate change, and they’ve advocated for urgent measures to address it. Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, [told _the Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research) that cutting NASA’s Earth science research would be “extremely short sighted.” “Information on planet Earth and its atmosphere and oceans is essential for our way of life,” he said. “Space research is a luxury, Earth observations are essential.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4581681/donald-trump-climate-change-nasa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4581681/donald-trump-climate-change-nasa/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Climate Change","datePublished":"2016-11-23T18:17:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:59:05.702Z","description":"A top adviser said Trump will cut back on \"politicized\" climate change research","url":"https://time.com/4581681/donald-trump-climate-change-nasa/","keywords":["Donald Trump","climate change","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77357dd83c5b69cf/6988afa48e0601b371468620/donald-trump-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77357dd83c5b69cf/6988afa48e0601b371468620/donald-trump-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Weekend Meetings In Bedminster, NJ","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Weekend Meetings In Bedminster, NJ","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4581681/donald-trump-climate-change-nasa/","name":"Donald Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Climate Change"}}]}] ```