In a statement, White House praises, plagiarizes ExxonMobil

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when he was ExxonMobil CEO.

(Image credit: Brian Harkin/Getty Images)

published 7 March 2017

If it sounds like a gushing statement issued Monday by the White House came from ExxonMobil's PR department, it's because part of it did.

Earlier in the day, Exxon published a press release that touted its plan to expand manufacturing along the U.S. Gulf Coast, and included a quote from the company's chairman and CEO, Darren Woods. Not long after, the White House released a statement regarding Exxon's plan, praising the company for "its ambitious $20 billion investment program." From there, the statement took on a very familiar tone, as it included an entire paragraph lifted from the ExxonMobil document, and used Woods' quote without any attribution.

President Trump also fawned over Exxon on Twitter, posting multiple times about the company and "JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!" This did little to assuage the fears of people who believe the White House is too close to ExxonMobil, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was ExxonMobil's CEO until his confirmation earlier this year. A spokesman for Exxon told The Huffington Post the company gave the White House "information about an announcement we were making and they decided to issue a statement congratulating us."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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