Al Gore Meets Trump for 'Interesting Conversation'

'It was a sincere search for areas of common ground'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 6, 2016 1:23 AM CST
Al Gore Meets Trump for 'Interesting Conversation'
Al Gore addresses participants during a three-day climate change training and workshop in the Philippines earlier this year.   (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Yet another surprise move by Donald Trump: The president-elect, who has described climate change as a Chinese hoax, met with Al Gore on Monday for a talk that the former vice president described as "extremely interesting," NBC News reports. A transition team spokesman says the meeting was originally scheduled to be between Gore and Ivanka Trump—who is believed to want to make climate change a signature issue as "first daughter"—but Gore ended up spending most of his 90 minutes in the Trump Tower with the president-elect himself, NPR reports. "I had a lengthy and very productive session with the president-elect. It was a sincere search for areas of common ground," Gore told reporters after the meeting.

"I found it an extremely interesting conversation, and to be continued, and I'm just going to leave it at that," Gore said. The Hill reports that later in the day, Gore spoke to MSNBC's Chris Hayes about the meeting, telling him Ivanka Trump is "very committed to having a climate policy that makes sense for our country and for our world." Gore—who, like Hillary Clinton, would have become president if it was decided by the popular vote instead of the Electoral College—also discussed America's voting system with Hayes, saying he'd "be surprised if we didn’t eventually shift to a popular vote for president over the next decade or so." (Gore believes that reform would do a lot to "stimulate public participation.")

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