David Bernhardt, President Trump’s pick to the lead the Interior Department, was confirmed by the Senate amid persistent ethical concerns and doubts about his independence from the energy and water industry groups he long represented as a lobbyist.
David Bernhardt, a former oil and gas lobbyist, speaks before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at his confirmation hearing last month to head the Interior Department.
Before becoming acting secretary, Bernhardt spent about eight years as a partner in Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, one of the nation’s top-grossing law and lobbying firms, according to public rankings. There he represented energy, mining and Western water interests that deal with the Interior Department, including two California entities, Westlands Water District — the nation’s largest irrigation district — and Cadiz Inc.
When Bernhardt was confirmed as deputy secretary in 2017, he had to sign the administration’s ethics pledge and recuse himself from participating in “particular matters” involving more than two dozen former clients. Some of the recusals were effective for two years, others for one. In the last year, he has helped put policies in place that benefit businesses he once represented as a lobbyist.Last year, for example, Bernhardt helped craft a Trump directive that would especially benefit Westlands.
Rep. Jared Huffman called Bernhardt “a poster child for the corruption of the Trump administration.” Sen. Ron Wyden has accused Bernhardt of lying and asked the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia this week to investigate whether Bernhardt broke the law by lobbying for a client after he claimed to have stopped.
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