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Reality checking Trump's comments on clean air

Amy Harder, author of Generate

Photo: Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images

President Trump and his top officials touted in a speech Monday how America's air pollution has decreased 74% since 1970, citing data from the Environmental Protection Agency due out next week.

Reality check: That's true, but most of those reductions occurred long before Trump was in office. Since Trump entered the White House, the little data available show that some kinds of air pollution have plateaued, while a few have even increased, according to a preview of the report EPA posted Monday.

What they're saying: EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said on a conference call with reporters earlier Monday that it's important Americans know the air has gotten cleaner over the last 49 years, not dirtier as some news coverage suggests.

For the record: Michael Abboud, an EPA spokesman, said by email that the agency expects a downward trend in pollution but that some is higher "due to wildfires and other meteorological conditions."

The big picture: Trump is taking credit for actions of earlier administrations — common for presidents of either party to do on various issues. But in this case it's a stark contrast to Trump's main focus at the EPA and other similarly focused agencies: Repealing almost everything President Obama did on environmental and climate change issues.

Go deeper:

Go deeper

Jonathan Swan
54 mins ago - Politics & Policy
Off the Rails

Episode 4: Trump turns on Barr

Photo illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios. Photos: Drew Angerer, Pool/Getty Images

Beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through his final days in office, Donald Trump unraveled and dragged America with him, to the point that his followers sacked the U.S. Capitol with two weeks left in his term. Axios takes you inside the collapse of a president with a special series.

Episode 4: Trump torches what is arguably the most consequential relationship in his Cabinet.

Attorney General Bill Barr stood behind a chair in the private dining room next to the Oval Office, looming over Donald Trump. The president sat at the head of the table. It was Dec. 1, nearly a month after the election, and Barr had some sharp advice to get off his chest. The president's theories about a stolen election, Barr told Trump, were "bullshit."

Go deeper (6 min. read)Arrow
Rebecca Falconer
6 hours ago - Politics & Policy

In photos: Protests outside fortified capitols draw only small groups

Armed members of the far-right extremist group the Boogaloo Bois near the Michigan Capitol Building in Lansing on Jan. 17. About 20 protesters showed up, AP notes. Photo: Seth Herald/AFP via Getty Images

Small groups of protesters gathered outside fortified statehouses across the U.S. over the weekend ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration Wednesday.

The big picture: Some protests attracted armed members of far-right extremist groups but there were no reports of clashes, as had been feared. The National Guard and law enforcement outnumbered demonstrators, as security was heightened around the U.S. to avoid a repeat of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots, per AP.

See photos (<1 min. read)Arrow
Felix Salmon, author of Capital
8 hours ago - World

China's economy grows 6.5% in Q4 as country rebounds from coronavirus

A technician installs and checks service robots to be be used for food and medicine delivery in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China, on Sunday. Photo: Hu Xuejun/VCG via Getty Images

China's economy grew at a 6.5% pace in the final quarter of 2020, the national statistics bureau announced Monday local time, topping off a year in which it grew in three of four quarters and by 2.3% in total.

Why it matters: No other major economy managed positive growth in 2020. Although the COVID-19 pandemic was first detected in China, the country got the virus under control and became one of the main positive drivers of the global economy even as the rest of the world was largely under lockdown.

Go deeper (<1 min. read)Arrow