SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
September, 23 2019, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Yetta Stein, Communications Associate
Western Values Project
yetta@westernvaluesproject.org
(406) 529-1682
Interior's Watchdog Opens Investigation into Political Interference by Trump Appointees
New Investigation At Least Fourth into Bernhardt’s Interior
WASHINGTON
After Western Values Project (WVP), a Montana-based public lands watchdog nonprofit, first highlighted political malfeasance within the Interior Department's updated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) review process, Interior's Inspector General (IG) has officially confirmed an investigation into the Department's practice of allowing political appointees to review, delay, and potentially withhold public documents from release.
"Trump's culture of corruption--carried out by Secretary Bernhardt and his political appointees--runs rampant within the halls of Interior. Bernhardt's political team seems to be systematically withholding public documents concerning key decisions that impact America's public lands and outdoor heritage in order to cover their corrupt tracks," said Jayson O'Neill, Deputy Director of Western Values Project. "We hope Interior's Inspector General investigation is thorough, timely and transparent."
Interior's IG confirmed the investigation in letters sent to both House Natural Resources Chair Raul Graljiva (D-AZ) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), which were obtained and reported on by The Hill after the congressional leaders requested an investigation into the potentially illegal review practice.
Potentially implicated in the IG's investigation is Daniel Jorjani, presently the nominee to be Interior's Solicitor General. His nomination was stalled when Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) called on the Department of Justice to launch a criminal investigation into his role in Interior's now-under-investigation public records political review process. In addition to the request for a perjury investigation, Senator Wyden tried to put a hold on Jorjani's nomination to be confirmed as the department's top legal official. However, last week, Majority Leader Sen. McConnell (R-KY) took steps to move Jorjani's controversial nomination forward.
This is at least the fourth active investigation into Secretary Bernhardt or his appointees. Others include:
- Bernhardt became the subject of a multi-faceted ethics investigation just four days after his confirmation as secretary. The investigation includes Bernhardt's efforts to alter a biological opinion to benefit former client Westlands Water District and block a scientific report analyzing how controversial pesticides affected protected wildlife.
- Bernhardt's office has been accused of destroying his official calendars to shield the special interest meetings taken by Bernhardt and his staff.
- Doug Domenech, Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs, was placed under investigation for potential ethical misconduct. Calendars indicated that Domenech met with his former employer, Texas Public Policy Foundation, concerning an endangered species act listing and a property dispute, despite the group's pending lawsuits with Interior on both issues. Five other Interior officials -- Lori Mashburn, Benjamin Cassidy, Todd Wynn, Timothy Williams, and Vincent DeVito -- were also accused of various ethical violations that all related to conduct with their former employers.
Further Background:
In June, WVP and Campaign for Accountability, along with three other watchdog groups, filed a complaint with Interior's IG, calling for an investigation of the political awareness review process of FOIA requests at the department.
Research by WVP, cited in the letter submitted to the Inspector General, found several other cases of information being withheld or delayed by Interior's political appointees during the political review process, including:
- Emails between Interior officials indicated that a career FOIA official identified 487 pages of responsive material to be released but only 469 pages of records were released to WVP. The political intervention appears to have resulted in the removal of 18 pages that should have been released to WVP.
- Another FOIA response was delayed at least two weeks due to the awareness review by political appointees. An Interior FOIA officer inadvertently revealed the reason for the delayed response, writing "As I understand the current policy, OS FOIA must receive your affirmative clearance prior to release of material related to the Secretary."
- An Interior attorney within the Office of the Solicitor sent two of the political appointees a heavily redacted email with the subject line "HOLD - Awareness Review for Active Litigation" about a WVP request. Interior appears to have completely withheld the document in question since WVP never received a document matching the title of the attachment.
- WVP submitted a request seeking communications between Interior and the Office of U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) as well as records reflecting meetings or phone calls with Sen. Portman's office. To date, WVP has not received any records from Interior regarding this request. Emails between Interior officials, however, indicate they had identified responsive documents, but they were withheld as a result of the awareness process.
WVP submitted three Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on May 28th after Roll Call CQ reported that several requests by the group and others have been subject to political awareness review, creating delays and the removal of some 80 pages of responsive documents of by a political appointee. WVP also filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for public documents involving the political awareness review process after the department failed to respond within the 20 days allowed under the law.
An analysis of public documents released by the National Park Service (NPS) about the review process discovered that major media outlets including The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Politico, The Hill and others, as well as watchdog organizations, were subject to the political awareness review, causing delays and, in several cases, limiting responsive public documents being released.
A bipartisan group of senators recently sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency after it was revealed that the agency is considering implementing rules similar to those already proposed by the Interior Department. The group of senators indicated that they are considering legislation to address public records meddling and FOIA restrictions under the Trump administration.
Western Values Project brings accountability to the national conversation about Western public lands and national parks conservation - a space too often dominated by industry lobbyists and their allies in government.
LATEST NEWS
'Good News': As Trump Threat Looms, Senate Confirms Ethics Czar
"It's important that we'll have a government ethics chief in place who serves the American people, not Trump's wallet," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Nov 14, 2024
As the clock winds down on Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, upper chamber lawmakers on Thursday confirmed President Joe Biden's nomination of David Huitema, head of the State Department's ethics program, to lead the Office of Government Ethics for a five-year term.
Senators voted 50-46 in favor of Huitema's confirmation to head the OGE through the duration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump's tenure, averting at least temporarily a scenario in which the winner of the 2024 election—who has refused to sign required transition-related ethics agreements and whose first term saw thousands of conflicts of interest—would be empowered to fill or stonewall the post.
The OGE has been without a director for more than a year, ever since the term of Trump appointee Emory Rounds expired. In September, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) blocked Senate Democrats' attempt to confirm Huitema via unanimous consent until after the presidential election, alleging "political weaponization of the U.S. government against Donald Trump by the Biden-Harris administration."
As the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen said ahead of Huitema's confirmation:
One of the most important roles of the Office of Government Ethics is to oversee and advise the presidential transition process. The selection and nomination of most new administration officials takes place during the transition, in which OGE's vetting of pending nominees for conflicts of interest is most critical. The office needs to be fully staffed and operational during the course of the transition period.
However, Walter Shaub, who led the OGE during the Obama administration and resigned in 2017 after months of conflict with the Trump White House, warned in a Thursday interview with Government Executive that "it might be a hollow victory for government ethics if Trump fires Huitema after the inauguration."
"Even if Trump doesn't fire Huitema, OGE won't be able to prevent Trump's top appointees from retaining conflicting financial interests if the Senate grants Trump's request that lawmakers conspire in skirting or short-shrifting the constitutional confirmation process," Shaub added.
Still, ethics advocates cheered Huitema's confirmation, with the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington hailing what it called the "good news" and "an important step to safeguard ethics compliance ahead of a second Trump administration that threatens to be even more corrupt than the first."
As one Democratic strategist said on social media following his confirmation, "Buckle up, David Huitema."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Alarm Over Trump Choosing 'Extreme, Conspiratorial' RFK Jr. to Lead HHS
"Confirming this lunatic would amount to killing people," one journalist warned amid fears Trump will avoid Senate votes for controversial picks.
Nov 14, 2024
U.S. lawmakers, government watchdogs, and other critics responded with alarm to President-elect Donald Trump's long-anticipated announcement on Thursday that he wants Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a clear and present danger to the nation's health," declared Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman. "He shouldn't be allowed in the building at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), let alone be placed in charge of the nation's public health agency."
"Donald Trump's bungling of public health policy during the Covid pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives," Weissman highlighted. "By appointing Kennedy as his secretary of HHS, Trump is courting another policy-driven public health catastrophe."
The RFK Jr. decision continued a trend of Trump choosing Cabinet secretaries who have demonstrated loyalty to him, even if their qualifications are questionable. After running for president as a Democrat and then an Independent—without support from many members of his political family—Kennedy suspended his campaign and endorsed the Republican in August.
"RFK Jr. poses a danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and healthcare coverage for millions."
Leading up to the election last week, Trump acknowledged plans to let Kennedy "go wild on health," sparking speculation that he would let the lawyer and conspiracy theorist lead HHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, or National Institutes of Health.
Once lauded for his environmental activism, Kennedy has recently faced criticism for spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, downplaying the climate emergency, and opposing a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. There have also been revelations about a brain worm, a dead baby bear, a whale head, a reported affair with a journalist, and an alleged sexual assault of a babysitter.
Trump—who is known for his love of McDonald's—said in his statement about RFK Jr. that "for too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health."
"The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country," Trump continued. "Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!"
Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk cast doubt on the suggestion that Kennedy's appointment would benefit the public.
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent years recklessly promoting unfounded, anti-scientific conspiracies about everything from vaccines to antidepressants," Carrk said in a statement. "Not only does he lack any serious credentials, but his troubling grasp of facts poses a serious threat to the health of millions of Americans."
Journalist Mehdi Hasan compared Kennedy to the far-right founder of the fake news website InfoWars: "It is difficult to overstate just how extreme, conspiratorial, and insane RFK's views are, on vaccines, microchips, and beyond. He's Alex Jones in a suit."
Noting Kennedy's previous pledge to halt research on drug development and infectious diseases, Slate's Mark Joseph Stern called his selection "just a massive 'fuck you' to the millions of families relying on advancements in treatment for loved ones with ALS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer, and so much more," adding that "confirming this lunatic would amount to killing people."
Some senators are already speaking out. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said Thursday: "Dangerous. Unqualified. Unserious."
Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement that "Trump's health agenda isn't a secret: worse healthcare at a higher cost for American families."
"Trump and Republicans in Congress have a proven track record of empowering insurance companies and Big Pharma while leaving everyday Americans to foot the bill. That means higher premiums, weakened protections for pre-existing conditions, criminalizing reproductive healthcare, and attacks on essential health coverage like Medicaid," he noted.
"Mr. Kennedy's outlandish views on basic scientific facts are disturbing and should worry all parents who expect schools and other public spaces to be safe for their children," Wyden added. "When Mr. Kennedy comes before the Finance Committee, it's going to be very clear what Americans stand to lose under Trump and Republicans in Congress."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote on social media that "RFK Jr. poses a danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and healthcare coverage for millions. He wants to stop parents from protecting their babies from measles and his ideas would welcome the return of polio. I have a lot of questions for his Senate hearing."
While Republicans are set to control Congress next year, Trump's controversial Cabinet picks have stoked fears that he will try to force through his allies with recess appointments, which don't require Senate confirmation.
If RFK Jr. makes it to HHS one way or another, critics are already preparing to challenge him. Center for Biological Diversity environmental health director Lori Ann Burd vowed that "we'll be joining with other organizations concerned with public health and the environment to ensure that Kennedy's dangerous anti-science agenda fails."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Exposed: The Oil and Gas Giants Profiting Most From Israel's Gaza Genocide
"The complicity of international corporations and governments in fueling Israel's war machine represents the latest chapter in a long history of fossil fuel companies enabling genocide and mass atrocities," said one campaigner.
Nov 14, 2024
On the fourth day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP29, in Azerbaijan, green groups highlighted how fossil fuel companies "enable and profit from Israel's genocide in Gaza," continuing "a long history of the industry's complicity in mass atrocities worldwide."
"The fossil fuel industry is culpable in death and destruction around the world, not only through the climate crisis they cause but through the violence they fuel," Oil Change International said in a statement Thursday.
"Every shipment of oil to Israel carries the weight of Palestinian lives."
The group—along with others including Friends of the Earth Palestine/PENGON and Tipping Point U.K.—is seizing the opportunity presented by COP29 to draw attention to an aspect of the Gaza war often overlooked amid the staggering death and destruction wrought by Israel's 13-month onslaught, which a United Nations panel on Thursday
said is consistent with the "characteristics of genocide."
"Investor-owned and private oil companies supply 66% of oil to Israel—more than a third of that from major oil companies like Chevron, Shell, and BP—despite genocide warnings from the International Court of Justice," Oil Change said. "BP is among the top corporate suppliers of oil to Israel. It operates and is the largest owner of the BTC pipeline, which transports Azeri oil that is ultimately sent to Israel."
The BTC pipeline runs from Baku—the Azeri capital and COP29 host city on the Caspian Sea—through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey and, according to Oil Change, supplies Israel with 28% of its oil, belying Thursday's claim by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that the country has severed all ties with Israel.
An
investigation published in September by Energy Embargo for Palestine showed how oil transported via the BTC pipeline is refined into jet fuel for Israel Defense Forces warplanes.
Oil Change continued:
BP has also been granted gas exploration licenses in occupied Palestinian waters. By providing it with fuel, BP enables the Israeli government to commit genocide in Gaza. Chevron operates and partially owns the two largest Israeli-claimed fossil gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan, making it the main international actor extracting fossil gas claimed by Israel in the Mediterranean. In 2022, 70% of Israel's power was generated from fossil gas extracted by Chevron. Through the millions of dollars it pays Israel for its gas extraction licenses, Chevron is also directly contributing to financing Israel's regime of genocide, apartheid, settler colonialism, and occupation.
"The complicity of international corporations and governments in fueling Israel's war machine represents the latest chapter in a long history of fossil fuel companies enabling genocide and mass atrocities,"
Mohammed Usrof, a member of the Palestinian Youth Climate Negotiation Team at COP29 who lost 21 relatives to Israel's onslaught, said in a statement Thursday. "Every shipment of oil to Israel carries the weight of Palestinian lives."
Tipping Point U.K. organizer Sadie DeCost said that "BP originated as a key enabler of the British empire, and continues as one of the top 10 largest carbon emitters in the world."
"It operates and is the largest owner of the BTC pipeline, which ships Azeri oil to fuel Israel's genocide in Gaza," DeCost added. "BP's historic colonial harms continue through its support of violent regimes. Its emissions are estimated to cause hundreds of billions of dollars of loss and damage. We must shut down BP to end this injustice, and demand climate reparations for impacted communities around the world."
Mahmoud Nawajaa, general coordinator of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement for Palestinian rights, lamented that "criminal fossil fuel companies that have shamefully been invited to join COP29 are not only responsible for destroying the planet, they are also responsible for fueling genocide and other atrocity crimes around the world, from Gaza to Myanmar to the Amazon region."
"Prime among these is Chevron, [which] continues to supply Israel and its military with energy and millions of dollars in tax revenues through fossil fuel extraction activities in the Mediterranean," Nawajaa added.
Oil Change International U.S. campaign manager Allie Rosenbluth asserted Thursday that "the fossil fuel industry is not just destroying our climate—it's actively profiting from genocide."
"These companies and the governments enabling them know exactly how their supplies are being used against Palestinian civilians," she continued. "Palestinian groups and their allies around the world have called for an energy and arms embargo demanding governments and companies cease all fuel and arms shipments to Israel until it ends the genocide and its regime of apartheid against the Palestinian people."
"The fossil fuel industry is not just destroying our climate—it's actively profiting from genocide."
"Despite these strong demands, the U.S. continues to be a key supplier of JP8 jet fuel to Israel, which is crucial for its military operations," Rosenbluth added. "This isn't just business—it's complicity in mass atrocities."
Oil Change noted that while many governments have prioritized profit and national interest over human rights in Palestine, Colombia—which is led by leftist President Gustavo Petro—"has set a strong precedent and issued an embargo on coal exports to Israel" as part of a broader suspension of relations due to the Gaza onslaught.
This is more than just a symbolic move, as Israel imports more than half of its coal from Colombia.
"Others must follow suit," Oil Change stressed.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular