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Trump changes tune on climate: Will he stay true to his most recent remarks?

After calling climate change a 'hoax' during the campaign, the president-elect said there is 'some connectivity' on climate change and human activity. 

First Look

During his bid for president, President-elect Donald Trump claimed climate change was a hoax fabricated by the Chinese and vowed to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and to stop US payments to United Nations global warming programs.

Now that he has been elected, Mr. Trump is open to upholding the international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases.

鈥淚鈥檓 looking very closely at it. ,鈥� the president-elect told The New York Times in an hour-long question-and-answer Tuesday. On the link between human activity and climate change, he said, 鈥淚 think there is some connectivity ... it depends on how much.鈥�

Trump鈥檚 position on climate change and the Paris agreement are one of numerous hard-line policies he has appeared to soften since his Nov. 8 election victory. From the prosecution of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, to waterboarding, to the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border, Trump has shown a willingness since the election to entertain more moderate policies. But he also has a habit of making statements inconsistent with previous ones.

According to one of numerous Times reporters that posted tweets during the interview Tuesday, Trump was weighing climate change and American competitiveness and 鈥渉ow much it will cost our companies.鈥�

This remark caught two people on Trump鈥檚 transition team on energy and environment issues off guard, they told Reuters after the meeting. That鈥檚 because Trump has repeatedly called climate change a hoax.

In 2012, he tweeted that 鈥渢he concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.鈥� He followed that up with a 2014 tweet: 鈥済lobal warming is an expensive hoax.鈥�

As聽climate change denier-in-chief, Trump could聽threaten international efforts聽to limit rising temperatures. Climate change and policy experts had warned that if the United States, the world鈥檚 second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China, were to not live up to the Paris agreement, other nations might follow suit. Scientists then warned that temperatures linked to the extinctions of animals and plants, heat waves, floods, and rising sea levels would increase.

But as The Washington Post鈥檚 Karen Tumulty wrote Tuesday, 鈥淭rump than he has in recent days.鈥�

Over the weekend, he used his Twitter account to attack the comedy of 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� and the cast of the hit Broadway show 鈥淗amilton.鈥� On Monday, he upbraided broadcast news executives and on-air journalists in an off-the-record session that quickly leaked to other media.聽

In the interview with the Times Tuesday, Trump also showed a lack of interest in prosecuting of Mrs. Clinton over her use of a private email server or her family鈥檚 charitable foundation.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to hurt the Clintons, I really don鈥檛. She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways,鈥� he told Times reporters, editors, and other newspaper officials.

He did, however, say 鈥渘o鈥� when asked if he would rule out investigating Clinton.

In the days after he was elected president, Trump also said the wall he promised to build along the US-Mexico border could actually be part fence.

Such softening of positions could upset some of Trump鈥檚 most ardent supporters. Breitbart, the conservative news outlet once led by Trump鈥檚 chief strategist, Steve Bannon, published a story Tuesday under the headline, 鈥淏roken Promise: Trump 鈥楧oesn鈥檛 Wish to Pursue鈥� Clinton email charges.鈥�

A relaxing of his more hard-line policies is not unlike the actions of Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R). In his 2010 and 2014 campaigns, Mr. Scott also opposed the Republican establishment, promised to crack down on immigration, and vowed to battle Washington. In his two terms as governor, Scott , according to PolitiFact Florida. He failed to enact tougher penalties for violating environmental regulations, but is in the process of improving the state鈥檚 education system.

Of course, the president-elect has a record of making statements that are inconsistent with his previous ones, as the Post鈥檚 Ms. Tumulty writes. He could yet back off his Tuesday remarks after inauguration Jan. 20, or even in the coming days.

This report contains material from the Associate Press and Reuters.