'It is, of course, not a Chinese hoax': Jake Tapper mocks Trump's climate change denial

Leading into a segment on the impact of climate change on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef on Friday, Jake Tapper shaded Donald Trump for once claiming global warming is “a hoax invented by the Chinese,” noting that’s simply not the case.

Tapper was introducing a “Buried Lead” segment about coral bleaching, where rising temperates cause a loss of algae on reefs, striping organisms of their dynamic pigments.

Tapper said coral bleaching is “proof that climate change, at least partially man made, is destroying the planet,” pointing out the “once-colorful coral reefs off the coast of Australia are now being bleached white.”

Referring to Trump’s previous climate change denial, Tapper argued the president's theory is demonstrably false.

“This news comes at a time at a time President Trump has proposed cutting billions of dollars from programs to study and help combat the effects of climate change—which in the past he’s called a ‘Chinese hoax,’” Tapper said. “It is, of course, not a Chinese hoax.”

Watch the video below, via CNN: