Republican activists and lawmakers are urging President Donald Trump to withdraw from the international Paris climate agreement, a plan among countries to combat global warming.
"On his side are his friends and allies. On the other are people like France's prime minister, various environmental groups, and the State Department. That should clarify on which side the president should be," Republican strategist Michael McKenna told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The American Energy Alliance launched a petition calling on the president to withdraw, and noted that exiting the accord was a Trump campaign promise.
"We can't afford an 'America last' energy policy," the petition read.
"President Trump has promised to represent the best interests of the American people; those interests entail a withdrawal of the United States from the pact signed onto by the previous administration," said Tom Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance.
Republican state attorneys general, led by West Virginia's AG Patrick Morrisey, wrote Trump a letter Tuesday.
"Advocates of the Clean Power Plan could argue that the United States' continued commitment to the Paris Agreement makes any effort to revise or rescind the Clean Power Plan arbitrary and capricious," the letter said.
Republican senators called on Trump to exit the accord in a letter to Trump Thursday. The senators in the letter, including Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul, said staying in the agreement would subject the U.S. to "significant litigation risk."
Some White House officials favor staying in the agreement, including Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, according to The Daily Caller.
Former vice president Al Gore asked Trump to stay in the agreement. A group of institutional investors weighed in on the issue earlier in May, urging "all nations" to remain in the agreement.
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