Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden still plans on attending a fundraiser hosted by a co-founder of a fossil fuel company on Thursday even after the candidate was challenged over the event during CNN’s town hall on climate change.
A town hall attendee asked Biden on Wednesday how he can be trusted to combat climate change when he was scheduled to appear at a fundraiser hosted by Andrew Goldman, co-founder of the gas company Western LNG, the very next day.
“He’s not a fossil fuel executive,” Biden responded.
When CNN host Anderson Cooper pointed out Goldman’s involvement in Western’s project to build a floating facility for liquefied natural gas off the coast of Canada, Biden fumbled to explain
“Well, I didn’t realize he does that,” the former vice president said. “I was told–if you look at the SEC filings, he’s not listed as one of those executives.”
Biden declared near the end of the town hall that if Goldman turned out to be involved in Western’s operations, the candidate would not “in any way accept his help.”
According to his campaign schedule, Biden hasn’t cancelled his plans to attend Goldman’s event.
During the discussion, Cooper said that Goldman didn’t have day-to-day responsibilities at Western. However, Splinter found company filings dated last year that listed Goldman as one of Western’s executives and a “long-term investor in the liquefied natural gas sector.”
Watch Biden addressing the fundraiser at the town hall below:
Later in the town hall, Biden said, “What I was told by my staff is that [the host] did not have any responsibility related to the company," referring to Western LNG, whose biggest project is a floating liquefaction facility for natural gas off the coast of British Columbia pic.twitter.com/lDzgcSfRfe
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 5, 2019
