In a statement, White House praises, plagiarizes ExxonMobil

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when he was ExxonMobil CEO.
(Image credit: Brian Harkin/Getty Images)

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.

See more

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."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.