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Clinton Camp Worried About Going 'Full Sanders' by Linking Terrorism to
Climate Change

Never go full Sanders

Hillary Clinton
AP
November 7, 2016

Hillary Clinton's campaign staff worried about going "full Sanders" by implying a link between climate change and terrorism in an op-ed penned under the former secretary of state's name that was never published.

Eleven days after coordinated attacks in Paris killed nearly 130 people and wounded hundreds, Clinton campaign aide Kristina Costa circulated a draft op-ed that opened with a parallel between fighting ISIS and combating climate change.

Costa wanted to get the op-ed placed in the Financial Times during the United Nations climate change talks that took place between November and December of last year, according to an email chain made public by WikiLeaks.

Several aides, however, objected to the op-ed because it too closely linked terrorism to climate change.

Joel Benenson, Hillary Clinton's senior strategist, said that the beginning paragraphs of the piece were "very off key."

"I think trying to lead with terrorism and bridging to climate change is a mistake and will ring hollow," Benenson wrote. "I [believe] right now Americans are quite anxious about the threat of ISIS and this topper is going to risk many writing this as though she's linking terrorism to climate change."

"I believe climate change unaddressed will perpetuate resource conflicts in the world, but for a woman who was Secretary of State and who brings real strong bona fides on being tough and aggressive against terrorists, I think this recipe just doesn't work," Benenson continued. "If we want to an op-ed on climate, let's do that and not try to shoehorn terrorist attacks into it."

"Agree with Joel that mixing climate and terror is a mistake," wrote Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton's communications director.

WikiLeaks has been releasing troves of hacked emails from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta's personal inbox. U.S. officials have accused the Russian government of directing cyber attacks on U.S. individuals and organizations in an effort to influence the presidential election.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), Clinton's primary competitor, repeatedly linked climate change to terrorism following the deadly Paris attacks. In a response defending the op-ed's language, Costa wrote to other campaign insiders that she did not want to "go full Sanders and imply an equivalency or a linkage."

"I do think that, timing this for the opening of the conference, for a more international audience in the FT, it is worth some kind of acknowledgement," Costa said of the Paris attacks. "But can certainly make this 100 percent climate if that is the consensus."

According to a draft attached to the original email, the proposed op-ed began by saying that world leaders would deliver a "rebuke to the terrorists" by uniting in Paris to fight climate change.

"Two weeks ago, the world watched in horror as terrorists killed 129 people and wounded scores more in the City of Lights. Americans know too well the pain and shock of such an attack—and we will work with our allies to defeat ISIS and root out the forces of radical jihadism across the globe," the op-ed began.

"Parisians have refused to give in to fear—with 'Tous au bistrot!' the city’s rallying cry. And this week, President Obama, French President Francois Hollande, and other world leaders will deliver another rebuke to the terrorists—by coming together in Paris to tackle the global crisis of climate change," it continued.

Costa proposed that the op-ed be published in the Financial Times the following Monday, Nov. 30. Clinton did pen an op-ed for Time magazine published on Nov. 29. The piece is similar to the op-ed pitched in the email chain but does not include the first two paragraphs or make mention of terrorism.

Sanders said that climate change was "directly" related to terrorism during the Democratic primary debate in Iowa last November that took place one day after the Paris attacks, which were claimed by ISIS.

"Climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism," Sanders said. "And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say you're gonna see countries all over the world—this is what the CIA says, they're gonna be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops. And you're gonna see all kinds of international conflict."

Sanders reiterated the claim to CBS' Face the Nation the following day, adding that "when people migrate into cities and they don’t have jobs, there’s going to be a lot more instability, a lot more unemployment, and people will be subject to the types of propaganda that al Qaeda and ISIS are using right now."

The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

While Clinton has not said climate change is directly connected to terrorism, she said at a town hall days before the Paris attacks that climate change has contributed to the refugee crisis in war-torn Syria. Climate change is also discussed among national security topics on Clinton's website, particularly with regard to the U.S. relationship with China.

In remarks delivered shortly before the Paris climate change summit, President Barack Obama linked global warming to terrorism, saying that the proposed accord would be a "powerful rebuke" to terrorists.