Science Czar Refuses to Answer Questions, Pushes Journalist on Elevator

Nicholas Ballasy has caught White House Science Czar John Holdren in a candid moment before, but Holdren wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

Ballasy, a correspondent for CNS News, approached Holdren earlier this month and recorded him admitting that his plan to "de-develop" the United States involves using the "free market economy." That comment drew the ire of Conservatives.

So when Ballasy approached Holdren on Tuesday, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy took a much different approach: he avoids, and even appears to push, Ballasy, refusing to answer any questions about his claim that redistribution of wealth is "absolutely essential if a decent life is to be provided for every human being."

"You guys are not serious journalists, and I'm not answering your questions," Holdren tells Ballasy after giving a speech on “Science, Technology, and Sustainable Economic Growth” at the Woodrow Wilson Center in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

When Ballasy persists and continues to follow Holdren into an elevator, Holdren asks "Would you let me be in my elevator?" When Ballasy doesn't immediately leave, Holdren then reaches out his forearm and makes contact with Ballasy in the back:

Ballasy declined comment through a CNS spokesperson.