Donald Trump’s energy secretary appeared to accidentally admit that things aren’t going so well under the 79-year-old president while talking up the White House.
Chris Wright, breaking ground Tuesday on a pipeline set to transport natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York, told the crowds the project reflects how the president is committed to “driving down costs for Americans and driving up job opportunities and wages for Americans.”
He then said: “Just because it looks like we’re going in the wrong direction doesn’t mean that’s the direction we are going.”
A clip of the speech, posted to the Energy Department’s YouTube account, does not appear to include that particular portion of Wright’s address.
Spokesperson Ben Dietderich denied in comments to the Associated Press that the department had deliberately altered the clip and said it was presented after “standard editing.”
“The secretary was referring to the wrong direction the country was experiencing under the Biden administration and under other Democrat leaders,” Dietderich said.
Despite President Donald Trump now having been back in the White House for nearly 15 months, his top officials have routinely responded to criticism by blaming his Democratic predecessor.
It is the second time in just over a month that Wright appears to have fumbled the ball pushing the Trump administration’s agenda.
Earlier in March, he claimed on X that the U.S. Navy had “successfully escorted” an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, a statement that was not true and quickly had to be walked back by other officials. The bogus claim had briefly sent oil prices tumbling amid widespread fears that Trump’s war would cause a massive increase in prices.
The Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil transport corridor in the Middle East, was shuttered by Iran amid Trump’s ongoing conflict with the Islamic regime, and it remains closed off now after the U.S. began a naval blockade to target Iran-linked vessels.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Energy Department and the White House for comment on this story.
