Amid wildfires across California, Oregon, and Washington that claimed dozens of lives, Trump visited the governor of California on September 14, 2020.

While being briefed on the fires, which left 10% of Oregon’s population under an evacuation order, Trump shrugged off concerns about climate change, saying instead that it would get cooler.

CROWFOOT: …I think we want to work with you to really recognize the changing climate and what it means to our forests and actually work together with that science, that science is going to be key, because if we ignore that science and put our head in the sand and think it’s all about vegetation management, we’re not going to succeed together protecting Californians.

TRUMP: Okay. It’ll start getting cooler.

CROWFOOT: I wish-

TRUMP: You just watch.

CROWFOOT: I wish science agreed with you.

TRUMP: Well, I don’t think science knows, actually. Tom, please.

The Defense Department long produced annual reports on climate change, acknowledging it as a national threat. The 2019 report specifically notes that “climatic factors including increased wind and drought can lead to an increased severity of wildfire activity.”

The year prior to the exchange, threatened to withhold federal emergency funding from California because its Democrat governor was following “what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him.” Trump has rejected climate change repeatedly, referring to it as a “Chinese hoax.”

Associated Press – Trump spurns science on climate: ‘Don’t think science knows’
The New York Times – As Trump Again Rejects Science, Biden Calls Him a ‘Climate Arsonist’
NPR – ‘I Don’t Think Science Knows’: Visiting Fires, Trump Denies Climate Change
US Department of Defense – Report on Effects of a Changing Climate to the Department of Defense, January 2019