House committee refers former Trump Interior Secretary David Bernhardt for criminal prosecution

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Yahoo News

The House Natural Resources Committee announced its first-ever criminal referral to the Department of Justice on Wednesday, asking it to investigate whether Mike Ingram, an Arizona real estate developer and a campaign donor to Donald Trump, bribed public officials during Trump’s tenure as president, including then-Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt.

Since 2019, the House committee has investigated a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in October 2017 to reverse its previous opposition to a proposed housing development in Benson, Ariz., called Villages at Vigneto. That decision was reversed again in July 2021, after Joe Biden took office as president.

According to a committee report in August 2017, Steve Spangle, who was then an FWS field supervisor, received a phone call during which an attorney from the Interior Department’s Office of the Solicitor asked Spangle to reverse his decision that the Army Corps of Engineers must consult with FWS before reinstating the then-suspended Clean Water Act permit for the Villages at Vigneto. The report said the phone call “was directed by Dep. Sec. Bernhardt” after he met with Ingram. Bernhardt went on to serve as secretary of the interior from 2019 to 2021.

“Evidence strongly suggests the decision was the result of a quid pro quo between Vigneto’s developer, Michael Ingram, and senior level officials in the Trump administration, potentially including then-DOI Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt,” the committee report concluded.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/house-committee-refers-former-trump-interior-secretary-david-bernhardt-for-criminal-prosecution-192909087.html

[oldsoftie]

1. Yeah, I'm not holding my breath on this one either.

[mountain grammy]

2. The corruption is so deep

I wonder if we can ever recover.

[gab13by13]

3. Won't president Trump just claim executive privilege?

Why waste the time, DOJ can put another FBI agent on the Hunter Biden laptop, or another lawyer to defend against E. Jeanne Carroll's defamation law suit.

[Akoto]

7. It's always worthwhile to at least try to counter corruption. nt

[Laura PourMeADrink]

4. Sickening. Been meaning to check on status since trump

reversed a President Obama reg that required coal companies to stop dumping sludge into our water. Sludge that contained proven cancer causing materials into our water. I screamed that this was a supremely important issue in 2020 election. It would be the best advertisement of all time. Crickets. Wonder if that reg has been reinstated?

What you posted makes me think we are so freaking naive, as normal people, to think it's simple. It is not. Too many nefarious voices. And $$ wins out every time

[MissMillie]

8. It's really sad that this stuff isn't even shocking anymore

In fact, I'd be shocked to find one member of TFG's administration that WASN'T corrupt.

[FBaggins]

9. Corrected title should read "two members of Congress send a letter to DOJ making allegations"

There does not appear to be a committee vote to recommend a referral, let alone a vote on the floor to send such a referral.