Internal emails reveal Delaware’s attorney general is the latest Democrat to pull out of a criminal investigation into ExxonMobil for supposedly hiding knowledge about global warming.
Emails released Friday by conservative legal group Energy & Environmental Legal Institute (E&E Legal) indicate that Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn bowed out of a coalition of attorneys general seeking to bring Exxon up on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges.
“Our AG has determined that Delaware will not be involved in this worthy effort,” Delaware Deputy Attorney General Ralph Durnstein wrote in an email to several other members of the coalition. Durnstein also told the cabal of attorneys general that he was tasked with monitoring the proceedings.
“I would appreciate any updates that can be shared with ‘outsiders,” he added.
Denn wiggled free from the coalition a mere two weeks after initially signing on to probe the much-maligned oil company.
The attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, castigated oil producers at a press conference in March for misleading the public and shareholders about what they knew about global warming and sea levels.