Stephen Bannon and Scott Pruitt have been scheming for months to get Trump to ditch the Paris accord

President Trump and Stephen Bannon.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

If President Trump announces this afternoon that he's pulling out of the Paris climate accord, it will be a win for chief strategist Stephen Bannon and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. Politico reported Thursday that both men have long been angling for Trump to bail on the deal:

Donald Trump's chief strategist and EPA administrator maneuvered for months to get the president to exit the Paris climate accord, shrewdly playing to his populist instincts and publicly pressing the narrative that the nearly 200-nation deal was effectively dead — boxing in the president on one of his highest-profile decisions to date.Steve Bannon and Scott Pruitt have sought to outsmart the administration's pro-Paris group of advisers, including Trump's daughter Ivanka, who were hoping the president could be swayed by a global swell of support for the deal from major corporations, U.S. allies, Al Gore, and even the pope. [Politico]

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