'Clean, beautiful coal!' Trump veers into fossil fuel tangent on Christmas call with child

President Donald Trump veered off topic to endorse fossil fuel energy during a phone conversation with a small child in a Mar-a-Lago Christmas Eve event.

"How long until Santa will be here?" asked the child.

"Well, Santa's now in Sweden," said Trump. "So Santa's got quite a trip to get to your great area, your great part of the world, because you live in a terrific place. But I will say Santa will make it in record time. Probably in about five hours. Five hours from now, Santa will be coming down your chimney and will have a beautiful present for you. What would you like Santa to bring?"

"Uh... not coal?" said the child.

"Not coal, you don't want coal. Well coal is — you mean clean, beautiful coal," said Trump. "I had to do that, I'm sorry. Coal is clean and beautiful, just remember that. But you don't want clean, beautiful coal, right?"

This exchange comes as the Trump administration has declared war on renewable energy, with a move to shut down offshore wind installations underway, ostensibly for national security reasons.