Campaign for Accountability

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</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-1">https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-1</a></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><div class="singlethe-content the-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 60px; padding-left: 10px;"><div style="background-color: rgb(253, 250, 243);"><a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-1/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;">“Keep It in the Ground”</a> | <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-2/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;">Web of “Pop-Up” Groups</a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-3/" style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-3/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Anatomy of an Arabella Campaign</a> | <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-4/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Harried Until the End</a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;">
</div>Summary: For years “dark money” activists ran a coordinated campaign to sabotage and undermine the Trump administration from the offices of Arabella Advisors in Washington, DC. The campaign culminated in the most extreme environmentalist regime in American history under President Joseph Biden. This report goes inside that campaign to destroy Trump’s Department of the Interior and promote the Left’s war on affordable energy.In 2019, the Capital Research Center’s groundbreaking report on Arabella Advisors exposed the <a href="http://darkmoneyatm.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">half-billion-dollar network</a> for the first time, dragging Arabella into the limelight as the posterchild of the Left’s “dark money.” Since then we’ve continued to uncover this now <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/arabella-advisors/#network-financial-overview" style="box-sizing: border-box;">$730 million activist empire</a>, tracing its shadowy campaigns on everything from abortion on demand to packing the Supreme Court to its war on the Trump administration.This report on the Arabella network examines the professional Left’s years-long campaign to undermine President Donald Trump’s Department of the Interior, laying the groundwork for the Biden administration’s crusade against oil and the most radical environmentalist policies in American history.“Keep It in the Ground”The U.S. Department of the Interior is primarily responsible for managing roughly <a href="https://www.doi.gov/blog/how-interior-increasing-access-public-lands#:_{:text=Across%20the%20more%20than%20450,advocate%20for%20America's%20great%20outdoors.}" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">450 million acres</a> of federal land and conservation of their natural resources, most critically the nation’s vast reserves of oil and natural gas. It manages hundreds of dams and reservoirs, regulates drilling on public lands, runs the National Park Service, and maintains public monuments, including dozens <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/icymi-trump-administration-defends-americas-monuments-and-memorials" style="box-sizing: border-box;">attacked</a> by radical Black Lives Matter activists in 2020.The department also plays a role in foreign diplomacy and national security. Under President Trump that <a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/asiia-accomplishments-2017-to-2020_0.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">included</a> international wildlife trafficking bans, encouraging trade of precious metals and rare earths, and promoting his Indo-Pacific security and economic strategy.But the department’s openness to expanding oil and gas production brought the sharpest attacks from the Left. Since the department is entirely under the president’s purview, halting all drilling on public land is far easier than attempting to halt private oil and gas production nationwide—the radical Left’s ultimate goal.“The natural place to start phasing out supply is on our public lands and oceans where a ban on new leasing will keep up to 450 billion tons of carbon pollution in the ground,” <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/center-for-biological-diversity/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Center for Biological Diversity</a> director Kieran Suckling <a href="https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/press-releases/merkley-introduces-major-new-legislation-to-stop-new-fossil-fuel-leases-on-federal-lands" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">said</a> in 2015. Bill McKibben, founder of the ultra-leftist <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/350-org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">350.org</a>, has also <a href="https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/new-bill-would-keep-fossil-fuel-reserves-on-public-lands-in-the-ground" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">stated</a> that “public lands are one of the easiest places for us to control the flow of carbon into the atmosphere.”Unsurprisingly, that’s been the policy of Democratic presidents and their activist allies for years. President Barack Obama <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/president-obama-cancels-2016-and-2017-oil-lease-sales-in-the-chukchi-and-beaufort-seas#:_{:text=More%20Gifts-,President%20Obama%20cancels%202016%20and%202017%20oil%20lease,the%20Chukchi%20and%20Beaufort%20seas&text=The%20Obama%20Administration%20has%20cancelled,the%20future%20of%20this%20region.}" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">canceled lease sales</a> in the Artic and Atlantic offshore sites and banned the leasing of coal on federal lands. Phasing down “extraction of fossil fuels from our public lands” was in the Democratic Party’s <a href="https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2016_DNC_Platform.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">2016 platform</a>. That same year a 350.org activist asked Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton what she meant by “extraction on public lands is a done deal?” Clinton <a href="https://350action.org/clinton-calls-ban-on-future-extraction-on-public-lands-a-done-deal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">replied</a>, “That’s where [President Obama] is moving: No future extraction. I agree with that.” Her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, later <a href="https://richmond.com/news/local/government-politics/tim-kaine-says-he-now-opposes-offshore-drilling-citing-defense-department-concerns/article_8db256c8-ea45-5b4c-bbb1-c7cc54219259.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">assured</a> another 350.org activist that “I actually am now in that position.”But even “phasing down” is too conservative for today’s “keep it in the ground” Left. No less than 20 Democratic presidential hopefuls <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060860731" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">vowed</a> to ban drilling on public lands outright during their party’s 2020 primary. Ever the pawn of the radical Left, on January 27, 2021—exactly one week after his inauguration—President Biden <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/environment/article/Biden-to-halt-new-oil-drilling-in-major-climate-15901950.php#:_{:text=President%20Biden%20is%20expected%20to,oil%20development%20on%20federal%20lands.&text=President%20Biden's%20directive%20on%20new,off%20the%20coast%20of%20Ventura.}" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">indefinitely suspended</a> development of new oil and gas wells on public lands, which the left-leaning San Francisco Chronicle cheered as “a first step to halting the granting of federal drilling leases permanently.”Why does this matter? Federal lands account for roughly <a href="https://www.globalenergyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/2019-07/er-offlimits-16.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">24 percent</a> of America’s oil, natural gas, and coal production. In 2019, total crude oil production reached an all-time high of <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R46537.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">4.471 billion barrels</a>, with a significant chunk of that growth coming from oil drilled on federal lands. Biden’s ban blocks future development of these key resources, removing them from the supply stream and hampering the energy independence the United States struggled to achieve in recent years. This means higher gasoline and household electricity prices, an estimated <a href="https://www.globalenergyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/2019-07/er-offlimits-16.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box;">$11.3 billion</a> in lost federal royalties and rental fees, and the destruction of hundreds of thousands of jobs across the economy.With a single executive order, the Left could advance its crusade to “keep it in the ground” for years in the name of global warming. The stakes couldn’t be higher—all that stood in its way was the Trump administration.In the <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-2/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">next installment</a>, watch Arabella Advisors target the Interior Department with two “pop-up” groups.<div class="singletags" style="background-color: rgb(253, 250, 243); box-sizing: border-box;">Tags: <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/350-org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">350.org</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/accountable-us/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Accountable.US</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/arabella-advisors/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Arabella Advisors</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/center-for-american-progress/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Center for American Progress</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/center-for-biological-diversity/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Center for Biological Diversity</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">climate change</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/department-of-the-interior/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Department of the Interior</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/global-warming/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">global warming</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/hopewell-fund/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Hopewell Fund</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/natural-gas/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">natural gas</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/new-vent/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">new vent</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/oil/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">oil</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/public-lands/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">public lands</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/sixteen-thirty-fund/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Sixteen Thirty Fund</a>, <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/tag/western-values-project/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Western Values Project</a>   Hayden Ludwig</div></div><div class="singleextended-author-info" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div class="singleextended-author-infotext" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 20px;">Hayden Ludwig is a Senior Investigative Researcher at Capital Research Center. He is also a columnist at the Washington Free Beacon and writes regularly for the American Conservative. Ludwig is…<a href="https://capitalresearch.org/person/hayden-ludwig/" class="inline-block-link" style="background-color: transparent; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;">+ MORE BY HAYDEN LUDWIG</a></div></div><div class="singleextended-author-info" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px;">----</div><div class="singleextended-author-info" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px;">pt 2</div><div class="singleextended-author-info" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><p fira="Fira" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px;"> Web of “Pop-Up” GroupsEnter <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/arabella-advisors" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Arabella Advisors</a>, a consulting firm based in Washington, DC, that quietly runs arguably the most powerful activist and lobbying network in politics. Arabella manages four in-house nonprofits collectively called the “sisters,” each of which controls a small army of activists and a legion of “pop-up” groups. And each pop-up group is made to look like a slick, stand-alone website. These pop-ups target virtually every issue in politics—control of the courts, abortion access, gun control, and voter registration and mobilization, even the Trump-Russia collusion hoax—pushing left-wing policies in every corner. What makes Arabella so powerful is how these “pop-ups” deceive individuals into believing they represent genuine local grassroots interests, such as one pop-up in Alaska created to oppose creation of the Pebble Mine run from Arabella’s plush offices in DC.Arabella’s network is extraordinarily well-funded. In 2019 alone, the four “sisters” reported total revenues exceeding <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/arabella-advisors/#network-financial-overview" style="box-sizing: border-box;">$730 million</a> and poured out $648 million. Between the network’s creation in 2006 and its Form 990 filing for 2019 (the latest available), Arabella’s empire has received more than $3 billion and spent nearly $2.5 billion. Most of that funding was directed to the network’s flagship 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/new-venture-fund/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">New Venture Fund</a>, whose <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/new-venture-fund/#donors-to-new-venture-fund" style="box-sizing: border-box;">largest known donors</a> include the Gates, Ford, Hewlett, Packard, and Buffett Foundations.Beginning in 2017, Arabella turned its guns on Trump’s Department of the Interior using a pop-up pair: <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/western-values-project/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Western Values Project</a> (WVP) and its “sister,” <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/western-values-project-action/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Western Values Project Action</a> (WVPA).<p fira="Fira" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px;">According to their websites, WVP and WVPA were <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191004111231/https:/westernvaluesproject.org/about-us/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">created</a> in 2013 in Helena, Montana, to expose corrupt corporate lobbyists preying on public lands in the West. In reality, WVP is run by the 501(c)(3) New Venture Fund while WVPA is run by the 501(c)(4) Sixteen Thirty Fund, Arabella’s in-house lobbying shop. Whatever staff the groups actually have would have been paid by one of Arabella’s nonprofits or possibly by Arabella Advisors itself; we’ll likely never know. But in its 2018 Form 990, New Venture Fund revealed that it is the “<a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/sixteen-thirty-fund/#key-staff" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">paymaster</a>” for Sixteen Thirty Fund (which reported zero employees on its own 2018 Form 990) and “pays the salary and immediately invoices Sixteen Thirty Fund, which reimburses the full amount.”It’s common for groups to use both kinds of nonprofit to maximize their ability to lobby through the 501(c)(4) and raise non-lobbying funds through the 501(c)(3), since donors may deduct donations to the 501(c)(3) from their taxes. But Arabella takes that tactic to another level, using pop-up fronts for its nonprofits that can take advantage of the New Venture and Sixteen Thirty Fund’s respective tax advantages without disclosing their relationship to one another. Donations to WVP and WVPA in fact benefitted the Arabella-run nonprofits behind the projects, as an archived version of WVP’s website from October 2019 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191012042050/https:/westernvaluesproject.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">reveals</a>.Until late 2019 the website for WVP and WVPA revealed a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191004111231/https:/westernvaluesproject.org/about-us/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">handful of staffers</a>, including Chris Saeger, ex-communications director for the Montana Democratic Party and former Service Employees International Union (SEIU) staffer; Jayson O’Neill, a Democratic staffer for Montana’s legislature and Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D); and Yetta Stein, a staffer for the left-wing political action committee <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/political-party/end-citizens-united-ecu/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">End Citizens United</a> and staffer for the 2018 reelection campaign Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT). The archived website also showed a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191004111231/https:/westernvaluesproject.org/about-us/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">small advisory board</a> consisting of:<ul fira="Fira" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; list-style-type: square; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 28px;">Kjersten Forseth, a former chief of state for Colorado State Senate Democrats, former director of the left-wing strategy group <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/progressnow-colorado/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">ProgressNow Colorado</a>, political director for the Colorado AFL-CIO, and chief political strategist for Rocky Mountain Voter Outreach, a Denver-based get-out-the-vote and ballot initiative firm.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 28px;">Kent Salazar, an environmental health manager for Albuquerque, New Mexico, former New Mexico State game commissioner for Gov. Bill Richardson (D), and a board member for the left-wing <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-wildlife-federation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">National Wildlife Federation</a>.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 28px;">Pat Smith, a lawyer representing Indian tribes in Montana, member of the 2010 Montana Redistricting Commission, and appointee of Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.</li></ul>WVP’s advisory board also included <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/person/caroline-ciccone/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Caroline Ciccone</a>, who in 2019 was executive director of the New Venture Fund pop-up and anti-Trump “oversight” group <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/restore-public-trust/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Restore Public Trust</a>. Ciccone is a former communications director for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Obama appointee to the U.S. Small Business Administration, and Democratic strategist. From 2014 to 2017 she led <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/americans-united-for-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Americans United for Change</a> (AUFC), a top left-wing strategy group whose national field director Scott Foval was recorded in late 2016 by undercover journalists from Project Veritas bragging that AUFC had paid mentally ill and homeless people to instigate violence at Trump campaign rallies. “We know that Trump’s people will [tend to] freak the f— out,” Foval said in the video. “It is not hard to get some of these assholes to ‘pop off.’” The scandal ultimately led back to Robert Creamer, co-founder of the powerful consulting firm <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/democracy-partners/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Democracy Partners</a> and a former general consultant to AUFC who directed parts of a vast network of advocacy groups all aligned in support of Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. This led to speculation that his firm helped Clinton’s campaign violate collusion laws. Foval described Creamer’s role in the scandal as the “kingpin” who is “diabolical, and I love him for it.” Within days of the video’s release Creamer resigned, and Foval was fired.Also present was <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/person/kyle-herrig/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Kyle Herrig</a>, a New Venture Fund board member who sat on the advisory boards of at least five New Venture Fund projects, including <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/american-oversight/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">American Oversight</a>, a judicial activist and litigation group; <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/allied-progress/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Allied Progress</a>, which attacked Trump cabinet officials; and the Ciccone-run Restore Public Trust.<p fira="Fira" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px;">In early 2020 it was announced that Western Values Project and these three Arabella “pop-ups” were being rolled into a new organization: <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/accountable-us/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Accountable.US</a>, itself a former New Venture Fund project fully established as an independent nonprofit sometime later that year, headed by president Kyle Herrig and executive director Caroline Ciccone. (It appears that Western Values Project Action remains a project of Sixteen Thirty Fund, but that remains unclear as of writing.)<p fira="Fira" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px;">This reveals that Western Values Project, far from being a grassroots group, is enmeshed in a deeply networked, highly coordinated cabal of professional activists—and it always was.<p fira="Fira" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px;">In the <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-3/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">next installment</a>, break down the Arabella campaign against the Interior Department and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.<p fira="Fira" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px;">----</div><div class="singleextended-author-info" style="background-color: rgb(245, 237, 219); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px;">pt 3 zinke ad cartoon overturned boat</div><div class="singleextended-author-info" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px;">anatomy of an Arabella CampaignFrom 2017 to 2018, WVP ran an all-out attack against Trump administration Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, publishing post after post <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181009144947/https:/westernvaluesproject.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">savaging</a> Zinke and his staff. WVP even published a massive website, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170919092100/https:/departmentofinfluence.org/person/david-bernhardt/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">DepartmentofInfluence.org</a>, which compiled boatloads of data on nearly every appointee to the Trump administration’s Department of the Interior. The group’s goal was clear: Drive Ryan Zinke out of office and undermine the department’s policies. They finally succeeded in December 2018, and Zinke resigned in early January 2019 amid ethics complaints alleging he had <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/415988-interior-secretary-ryan-zinke-steps-down" style="box-sizing: border-box;">misused public funds</a> during official travel and spent large sums on frivolous things.CRC has counted nine Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/02/FOIA-Project.-Western-Values-Project-FOIA-2017-2019.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">cases</a> filed by WVP between April 2017 and Zinke’s resignation, all sporting WVP’s supposed address: a UPS store in Whitefish, Montana (704C 13th St. E., #568, Whitefish, MT 59937). As investigative reporter Dave Skinner <a href="https://flatheadbeacon.com/2017/09/06/more-big-bucks/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">points out</a>, “‘Suite 568’ is actually a $150-per-year private mail box, snugged next to a sales placard touting a ‘street address, not a P.O. box number.’”In these complaints WVP <a href="http://foiaproject.org/dc_view/?id=4063478-DC-1-2017cv02001-complaint" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">describes</a> itself as “a not-for-profit public interest organization” and “a tax-exempt organization within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code,” never mentioning its status as a project of the New Venture Fund or its connection to Arabella Advisors. At least one FOIA request was co-filed with <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/american-oversight/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">American Oversight</a>, another former New Venture Fund pop-up run by Kyle Herrig that also used a UPS Store address in its filings (1030 15th St., NW, Suite B255, Washington, DC 20005) and describes itself as “a nonpartisan, non-profit section 501(c)(3) organization.”These FOIA complaints exclusively targeted the Department of the Interior. Highlights include:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 28px; list-style-type: square; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><li style="background-color: rgb(253, 250, 243); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 28px;">Requests for Zinke’s <a href="http://foiaproject.org/dc_view/?id=5005093-DC-1-2018cv02336-complaint" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">travel receipts</a>, “a daily schedule of the Secretary’s events, meetings and activities including locations and attendees”;</li><li style="background-color: rgb(253, 250, 243); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 28px;">Seeking correspondence between department heads and members of various <a href="http://foiaproject.org/dc_view/?id=4117476-DC-1-2017cv02190-complaint" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">oil and gas interests</a>, such as the American Petroleum Institute, Colorado Oil and Gas Association, and Independent Petroleum Association of America;</li><li style="background-color: rgb(253, 250, 243); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 28px;">Demanding access to all records, emails, and expenditures pertaining to <a href="http://foiaproject.org/dc_view/?id=4081461-DC-1-2017cv02070-complaint" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Lolita Zinke</a>, Ryan Zinke’s wife;</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 28px;">Asserting that Zinke <a href="http://foiaproject.org/dc_view/?id=3985460-DC-1-2017cv01779-complaint" style="box-sizing: border-box;">threatened</a> Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan for voting against the 2017 effort to repeal Obamacare; and</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 28px;">Multiple FOIA complaints <a href="http://foiaproject.org/dc_view/?id=3680511-DC-1-2017cv00757-complaint" style="box-sizing: border-box;">complaining</a> that department had not complied with prior FOIA complaints.</li></ul>On October 22, 2018, the Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General released its <a href="https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/doi-inspector-general-report-on-secretary-zinkes-alleged-abuse-of-office/3245/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">investigative report</a> into Zinke’s alleged ethics abuses and recommended it to the Department of Justice. The office noted that it “initiated this investigation” in December 2017 “based on information we received while investigating [Zinke’s] use of noncommercial aircraft for U.S. Governmental travel.” The source of that information isn’t named, but it isn’t a stretch to believe it originated with Western Values Project.Eight days later on October 30, WVP released its <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190125004826/https:/westernvaluesproject.org/western-values-project-statement-on-zinke-probe-referred-to-doj/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">statement</a> on the probe calling on Zinke to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190502052858/https:/westernvaluesproject.org/western-values-project-calls-for-secretary-zinkes-resignation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">resign</a>. It launched a website (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190202231315/http:/www.hasryanzinkebeenfiredyet.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">HasRyanZinkeBeenFiredYet.com</a>) demanding the same. On November 9, WVPA released <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/02/Western-Values-Project-Zinke-Attack-Ad-Press-Release-2019.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">a $30,000 attack ad</a> in seven Montana newspapers accusing Zinke’s “priorities” of being “<a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/02/Western-Values-Project-Zinke-Attack-Ad-2019.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">upside down</a>” and calling for his resignation—presumably paid for by the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which controls WVPA’s finances. One month later Zinke resigned.INSERT IMAGE: <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/02/Western-Values-Project-Zinke-Attack-Ad-2019.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/02/Western-Values-Project-Zinke-Attack-Ad-2019.pdf</a>Big Green’s Campaign Rolls OnJoining WVP and WVPA was the <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/center-for-western-priorities/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Center for Western Priorities</a> (CWP), a front for the California mega-activist group <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/resources-legacy-fund/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Resources Legacy Fund</a>—by my count the <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/environmentalists-spent-a-record-2-4-billion-pushing-global-warming-ideology/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">16th-largest environmentalist group in the country</a>, spending over $42 million in 2018 alone. CWP painted Zinke as a feckless tool of the oil and gas industry, <a href="https://westernpriorities.org/2018/12/15/ryan-zinke-to-resign-as-interior-secretary-leaving-behind-a-legacy-of-corruption/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">accusing</a> him of “following President Trump’s marching orders to attack our public lands” and fomenting an “illegal attack on America’s national monuments.” When Zinke resigned in January 2019, CWP <a href="https://westernpriorities.org/2019/01/02/winners-and-losers-from-ryan-zinkes-tenure-at-the-interior-department/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">labeled</a> him “the most anti-conservation Interior Secretary of all time.”Almost immediately after Ryan Zinke resigned in December 2018, CWP and WVP turned their guns on undermining Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, who became acting secretary on January 2, 2019, and was officially confirmed in April.Bernhardt served in the George W. Bush administration’s Department of the Interior, leaving in 2009 as the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg26073/html/CHRG-115shrg26073.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">department’s solicitor</a>. After that he led the Denver firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s natural resources law practice, where his clients <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/us/politics/interior-secretary-zinke-staff-conservation-regulations.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">included</a> Halliburton Energy Services and the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and he lobbied for Cobalt International Energy and Samson Resources. Before his appointment to the Trump administration, Bernhardt was also <a href="https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/04/28/trump-appoints-valley-water-districts-lobbyist-to-interior-department-post/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">registered</a> as a lobbyist for the Westlands Water District in California’s San Joaquin Valley.On December 17, CWP policy director Jesse Prentice-Dunn published a long hit piece calling Bernhardt a “<a href="https://medium.com/westwise/walking-conflict-of-interest-fffe8593feaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;">walking conflict of interest</a>” who would continue “Ryan Zinke’s culture of corruption” and accusing the department of shilling for Big Oil. That same day WVP published the website <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181217174459/https:/www.davidbernhardt.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">DavidBernhardt.org</a>, calling Bernhardt “the ultimate DC swamp creature” and an “ex-lobbyist who is too conflicted to be Interior Secretary,” while detailing a laundry list of ethics charges in an attempt to derail his confirmation to the post. <a href="https://westernpriorities.org/2019/03/26/memo-background-on-acting-interior-secretary-david-bernhardts-ties-to-the-oil-and-gas-industry-and-conflicts-of-interests/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Memos</a> about Bernhardt’s background and conflicts of interest and <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/bernhardts-interior-ignores-own-representations-to-court-over-public-records-deadline/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">more FOIA requests</a> followed from WVP and CWP, including one from <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/democracy-forward/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Democracy Forward</a>, a leftist litigation group created by Clinton crony Marc Elias (of <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/perkins-coie/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Perkins Coie</a> fame) in 2017 to target the Trump administration.In February, the <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/campaign-for-accountability/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Campaign for Accountability</a> (CFA), a <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/correction-funding-for-nonprofits-google-transparency-campaign/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">former “pop-up”</a> of the Arabella-run Hopewell Fund, <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/02/campaign-for-accountability-david-bernhardt-investigation-petition.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box;">petitioned</a> the Interior Department inspector general to investigate Bernhardt’s ties to Westlands Water District as a conflict of interest and urged the Senate to <a href="https://campaignforaccountability.org/statement-on-the-appointment-of-david-bernhardt-as-the-acting-secretary-of-the-department-of-the-interior/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">reject</a> his confirmation. CFA, which specialized in targeting Trump political appointees, was founded by alumni of another left-wing litigation group, <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/citizens-for-responsibility-and-ethics-in-washington/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington</a> (CREW), and has been represented by the ex-Arabella pop-up <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/american-oversight/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">American Oversight</a> in past lawsuits.The Center for American Progress joined in, <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2019/03/15/467373/david-bernhardt-president-trumps-conflicted-cabinet-nominee/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">labeling</a> Bernhardt “the most conflicted Trump Cabinet nominee.” Greenpeace and the Center for Biological Diversity urged the department’s inspector general to <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/interior-inspector-general-urged-to-investigate-david-bernhardt/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">investigate</a> those conflicts of interest, melodramatically declaring him “the most dangerous man in America for endangered species and public lands.” The Sierra Club demanded the Senate <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2019/03/fossil-fuel-lobbyist-david-bernhardt-proves-he-can-t-be-trusted-interior" style="box-sizing: border-box;">reject</a> his confirmation, as did the <a href="https://www.npca.org/articles/2106-parks-group-rejects-nomination-of-david-bernhardt-for-interior-secretary" style="box-sizing: border-box;">National Parks Conservation Association</a> and the <a href="https://act.nrdc.org/letter/af-bernhardt-190315" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> (NRDC).In March, WVPA launched a <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/02/western-values-project-action-2019-ad-buy-bernhardt.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box;">six-figure television ad buy</a> targeting Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM) and moderate Republican Sens. Cory Gardner (CO) and Martha McSally (AZ) to oppose Bernhardt’s confirmation. The assault continued until the Senate confirmed Bernhardt in April 2019. From then on the group’s crusade against Trump’s Department of the Interior focused on thwarting its agenda.In the <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/arabellas-long-war-part-4/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">next installment</a>, the professional Left’s years-long campaign culminates in the Biden Administration’s rush toward radical “green” policies.----pt 4Harried Until the EndWVP filed another five FOIA requests against the Department of the Interior between 2019 and 2020, almost certainly with the intent of discovering ammo for future ethics complaints. Among its requests were all <a href="http://foiaproject.org/dc_view/?id=6350796-DC-1-2019cv02527-complaint" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">communications</a> between the department and Bernhardt’s former clients from Brownstein Hyatt and the Westlands Water District as well as copies of “all text messages sent by Secretary David Benhardt from July 1, 2017,” through February 2020. The leftist website Outside Online even set up a “<a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/2390596/david-bernhardt-scandal-tracker" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">David Bernhardt Scandal Tracker</a>” days after his confirmation.But much of the Left’s campaign shifted to halting Trump’s supposed war on public lands until he left office in January 2021. “Yes, Trump really is coming to take your public lands,” WVP <a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/yes-trump-really-is-coming-to-take-your-public-lands/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">howled</a> in late 2019, claiming the administration was selling off federal land to oil interests bent on pillaging it. In reality, the Bureau of Land Management (which is part of the Interior Department) continued to lease lands to drilling companies in 5–10 year options, a decades-old practice. As a result, oil and gas production soared in 2019, particularly in New Mexico and Wyoming, which sit atop massive deposits.The Department of the Interior disbursed a staggering <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/102819-us-drilling-on-federal-and-indian-lands-surges-in-2019" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">$11.69 billion</a> to the states in 2019 alone from energy production on federal and Indian-owned lands, a $2.76 billion increase over 2018. Gasoline prices <a href="https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_dcus_nus_a.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box;">dropped</a> from a nationwide average of $2.813 in 2018 to $2.691 in 2019 to $2.258 in 2020. [NO MENTION OF EPIC PANDEMIC FAIL] And the United States achieved <a href="https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/fossil-fuels/gas-and-oil/the-united-states-was-energy-independent-in-2019-for-the-first-time-since-1957/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">energy independence</a> in 2019, with energy production exceeding consumption for the first time since 1957. In a single year, energy production increased by an impressive 5.7 percent, with so-called fossil fuels accounting for <a href="https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/fossil-fuels/gas-and-oil/the-united-states-was-energy-independent-in-2019-for-the-first-time-since-1957/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">80 percent</a> of all energy production and consumption that year.WVP harried Trump and his cabinet out of office, <a href="https://medium.com/westwise/inside-interior-secretary-david-bernhardts-wildly-destructive-track-record-e57f7ddb7298" style="box-sizing: border-box;">blasting</a> “Secretary David Bernhardt’s Wildly Destructive Track Record” in December 2020—which included such silliness as staging Trump’s May 2020 Fox News town hall inside the Lincoln Memorial, allowing national parks to be used as “centerpieces” for his reelection campaign, and holding “expensive military-infused Independence Day rallies on the National Mall” (the horror!).Targeting Trump’s energy and environmental policies were among Biden’s first moves in office. Biden cancelled a planned expansion to the Keystone oil pipeline (Keystone XL or “export limited”), pledged to protect 30 percent of U.S. land and water by 2030, and froze new leases for oil and gas development on federal land.Biden’s nominee for the department, Rep. Debra Haaland (D-NM), was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/15/977558590/deb-haaland-confirmed-as-first-native-american-interior-secretary" style="box-sizing: border-box;">confirmed</a> in March 2021 on a nearly party line vote (four Republicans joined with every Democrat in the Senate). Haaland has been <a href="https://nondoc.com/2021/03/18/confirmation-of-interior-secretary-deb-haaland/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">criticized</a> by conservatives as a far-left extremist with a <a href="https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/debra-haaland" style="box-sizing: border-box;">perfect 2020 score and 98 percent lifetime score</a> from the League of Conservation Voters, which ranks politicians for their fidelity to leftist environmental legislation. (Incidentally, Haaland received a <a href="https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/149368/deb-haaland" style="box-sizing: border-box;">100 percent score</a> from the pro-abortion groups Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America.) While Haaland told Congress during her confirmation process that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/23/970242295/interior-nominee-deb-haaland-faces-tough-questions-on-climate-goals" style="box-sizing: border-box;">fossil fuels</a> “will continue to play a major role in America for years to come,” she’s a global warming ideologue who <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/02/debra-haaland-2018-campaign-site-energy.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box;">trumpeted</a> “keep fossil fuels in the ground,” voting “against all new fossil fuel infrastructure,” and transitioning to “100% clean energy” in her 2018 reelection campaign.In May, the Biden administration proposed <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/president-bidens-fiscal-year-2022-budget-makes-significant-investments-interior" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ramping up</a> the Interior Department’s 2022 budget by $2.5 billion (17 percent) to $17.6 billion in order to “address the climate crisis” and create “good-paying union jobs.” Biden wants to conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 (it’s currently about 26 percent), a plan proposed by liberal groups in the states as “<a href="https://blogs.berkeley.edu/2021/01/25/heres-how-biden-can-help-conserve-30-percent-of-u-s-land-by-2030/#:_{:text=The%20plan%20is%20known%20as,carbon%20in%20plants%20and%20soil.}" style="box-sizing: border-box;">30 by 30</a>” largely as a measure to “slow climate change” by storing carbon dioxide in plants and soil. He also wants to spend $86 million on the “Civilian Climate Corps,” a reboot of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal–era Civilian Conservation Corps. He also wants to spend $300 million “plugging orphan oil and gas wells” and $249 million to boost renewable energy production on public lands.With pressure from the far Left and willing enablers embedded in the executive branch, the Biden administration will undoubtedly continue down the road toward ever more radical “green” policies—with Arabella’s support. Only one question remains: How much does Biden owe to Arabella’s long war against the Trump Department of the Interior?end----</div></div></div><div style="font-size: small;"> =<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/lawmakers-demand-criminal-perjury-probe-into-top-interior-official/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/lawmakers-demand-criminal-perjury-probe-into-top-interior-official/</a>Sen Ron Wyden and Rep. Raúl Grijalva on Tuesday alleged a “cover-up” and demanded a criminal perjury probe into the Interior Department’s top lawyer after an inspector general report <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/interior-inspector-general-report-foia_n_5f328208c5b64cc99fde24a8" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">concluded</a> that political appointees at the agency withheld documents about Secretary David Bernhardt during his Senate confirmation process last year.In a <a href="https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-and-grijalva-on-new-interior-inspector-general-report-officials-orchestrated-a-cover-up-to-protect-secretary-bernhardt-during-his-confirmation" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">joint statement</a>, Wyden and Grijalva called on the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Interior solicitor Daniel Jorjani, a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/senate-confirms-former-koch-crony-as-interior-departments-top-lawyer-2019-09-24/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">former Koch brothers adviser</a> who told the Senate last May that he did not personally review or make determinations about public information requests. Interior Department <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2019/05/22/interior-department-policy-let-political-appointees-review-foia-requests/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">policy</a> gives political appointees the authority to screen records requests before their release to the public.The two Democratic lawmakers said the IG <a href="https://www.doioig.gov/sites/doioig.gov/files/WebRedacted_AllegedFOIAInterference.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">report</a> (pdf) demonstrates that “Jorjani misled the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about his role in reviewing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) productions.”“Not since the Teapot Dome scandal have we seen a more corrupt Interior Department,” said Wyden and Grijalva, referring to a scandal from the 1920s that ultimately led to the imprisonment of then-Interior Secretary Albert Fall for accepting oil industry bribes."Officials at Interior are now on the record admitting what we suspected all along: they orchestrated a cover-up to protect Secretary Bernhardt during his confirmation, and all but lied to Congress about it,” the lawmakers added.The seven-page IG report states that following Bernhardt’s nomination in February of last year, then-Counselor to the Secretary Hubbel Relat instructed Interior staffers “to temporarily withhold documents related to Bernhardt from a release of FOIA documents” scheduled to take place under a court order.“As a result of Relat’s direction, 253 pages were withheld from the DOI’s February 2019 release,” the IG report notes. “The DOI ultimately released most of the 253 pages in December 2019, seven months after Bernhardt was confirmed.”One Interior Department lawyer “remembered that this direction from Relat was to remain in place until after Bernhardt’s confirmation,” the IG report says. “Jorjani told us that, as the DOI’s top attorney, he owned the decision, not Relat.”Bernhardt’s <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/11/win-big-oil-and-gut-punch-public-lands-conflict-ridden-former-lobbyist-bernhardt" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">confirmation</a> last April was viewed as a victory for Big Oil—and a major blow to America’s public lands—given the former lobbyist’s extensive ties to the fossil fuel industry. One environmental group <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/04/11/senate-confirms-trumps-most-conflict-ridden-cabinet-nominee-manage-americas" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">dubbed</a> Bernhardt “Trump’s most conflict-ridden cabinet nominee.”In a <a href="https://twitter.com/RepRaulGrijalva/status/1293240552964665344" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tweet</a> Monday, Grijalva wrote that the IG’s findings warrant a criminal probe “because officials who violate the public trust and break the law must be held accountable.”“Political appointees at Interior put their ideologically-based personal interests over the interests of the American people,” said Grijalv<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/documents-were-illegally-withheld-during-interior-secretary-confirmation-process-watchdog/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/documents-were-illegally-withheld-during-interior-secretary-confirmation-process-watchdog/</a>a report by the Interior Department Inspector General reveals that President Trump’s top Interior Solicitor, Daniel Jorjani, illegally withheld public documents prior to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s Senate confirmation hearing and then “perjured himself under oath,” according to a statement by the Western Values Project.Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the Westlands Water District and big oil companies, is currently promoting a plan to increase Delta water exports to the Westlands Water District and other corporate agribusiness interests in California’s San Joaquin Valley while fast-tracking a plan to raise Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River.The raising of Shasta Dam will inundate the remaining sacred sites of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe on the McCloud River and will spell disaster for imperiled Sacramento winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead populations.An analysis by Western Values Project <a title="" href="https://act.myngp.com/el/cIEpCyR7eU2aglpLd5eRujoCAlP8CggtCiMBwaqq2C4=/t3saOBBbmRcK-nwNXH7faE22fb8lbDhGj-OFxCTeHWM=" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">details</a> Jorjani’s perjury. “This is nothing short of a criminal act, and Trump’s political appointees need to be held accountable,” said Jayson O’Neill, Western Values Project Director.  “Withholding public documents, filtering potentially incriminating communications, and then lying about it under oath should result in Jorjani’s immediate removal, but that seems unlikely in President Trump’s and Secretary Bernhardt’s corrupt swamp."according to O’Neill, “Western Values Project (WVP) first <a title="" href="https://act.myngp.com/el/cIEpCyR7eU2aglpLd5eRujoCAlP8CggtCiMBwaqq2C4=/a2iC17EkFUFGezIkhvUAXCwfyHxiJ9YpZT8Rzj4XTUw=" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">exposed</a> the political ‘awareness review’ policy at Interior back in March of 2019. At the center of the new policy that allowed Trump’s political appointees to review and withhold critical and potentially incriminating public documents was former key-Koch network employee <a title="" href="https://act.myngp.com/el/cIEpCyR7eU2aglpLd5eRujoCAlP8CggtCiMBwaqq2C4=/tRXV1C8lrh9l6uQjuEy6tJ4GM8F9C2aAR-6cuL2Lr64=" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daniel Jorjani</a>.”In June 2019, WVP and Campaign for Accountability, along with three other watchdog groups, filed a <a href="https://act.myngp.com/el/cIEpCyR7eU2aglpLd5eRujoCAlP8CggtCiMBwaqq2C4=/ZgGPQDAH3a225G1W34RNd9utaPrXGwYUBgffJx8lc1k=" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">complaint</a> with Interior’s watchdog that spurred an investigation of the political “awareness review” process of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests at the department.“An <a title="" href="https://act.myngp.com/el/cIEpCyR7eU2aglpLd5eRujoCAlP8CggtCiMBwaqq2C4=/3m1kyQb7OgAQlgKtl1cWdYfMu_vL5vw9XYrImOmd2xs=" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">analysis</a> by WVP found that numerous 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 some cases, limiting responsive public documents being released,” WVP reported.<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: medium; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Yesterday, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., called for a criminal investigation into Jorjani after the Office of the Inspector General’s new report confirmed that DOI political appointees “may have violated a court order” by withholding documents to protect Secretary David Bernhardt during his confirmation process.The IG’s findings further reveal that Jorjani “misled the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about his role in reviewing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) productions during his confirmation,” according to Wyden and Grijalva.Wyden, a senior member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Grijalava, Chair of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, issued the following joint statement:“Not since the Teapot Dome scandal have we seen a more corrupt Interior Department. Political appointees at the agency have put their ideologically-based personal interests over the interests of the American people, violating the public trust upon which the Department of the Interior is based.“Officials at Interior are now on the record admitting what we suspected all along: they orchestrated a cover-up to protect Secretary Bernhardt during his confirmation, and all but lied to Congress about it. We call on the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into whether or not Jorjani perjured himself before Congress when he assured the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that there was no ‘heightened’ FOIA review process.”The new OIG report outlines the findings of its investigation regarding alleged interference in the FOIA process, including:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Shortly after the nomination of David Bernhardt to become Secretary of the Interior, “then Counselor to the Secretary Hubbel Relat directed staff from the DOI’s Office of the Solicitor (SOL) and members of the DOI’s FOIA staff to temporarily withhold documents related to Bernhardt from an upcoming release of documents” from a February 2019 FOIA production.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">One attorney advisor “recalled being told later that Relat’s direction to withhold Bernhardt-related documents in the FOIA litigation was because Bernhardt was awaiting his confirmation hearing. The attorney also remembered that this direction from Relat was to remain in place until after Bernhardt’s confirmation.”</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Relat admitted to the OIG: “[M]y approach was that information that we have a legal obligation to disclose, . . . we disclose . . . and release. No questions asked, . . . but that sensitive information that we’re not legally obligated to disclose, we should treat more strategically in terms of when and how . . . it’s disclosed . . . this is an approach that I discussed with Dan Jorjani.”</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">While Daniel Jorjani said he didn’t remember explicitly discussing the order with Relat, he stated: “Either I came up with the idea—and I would like to think I’m smart enough to do that—or Hubbel [Relat], being proactive, said, ‘Oh, can we do this compliantly and consistent with the court’s direction,’ and then ran it past me. . . . It would be one of those two, I would think.”</li></ul>During his confirmation hearing, <a title="" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3Awww.wyden.senate.gov_news_press-2Dreleases_wyden-2Dannounces-2Dhold-2Don-2Dinterior-2Dnominee-2Dover-2Dconcerns-2Dnominee-2Dlied-2Dto-2Dcongress-2Dabout-2Dpolitical-2Dappointees-2Dinterfering-2Dwith-2Daccess-2Dto-2Dpublic-2Drecords&d=DwMF-g&c=L93KkjKsAC98uTvC4KvQDdTDRzAeWDDRmG6S3YXllH0&r=DMIFI9VXztagY5rfarQ-HsBpYpml5Cu5NYUF6FVplOY&m=c-9nH0iFU2q_4jhMBzpawAesMLFwFH5CZFCVYFGI3dQ&s=TzHJoQh2qmhgli3jamj8ty-XBtw9QT2l2fTErT8R1T8&e=" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee asked Mr. Jorjani about his involvement in reviewing FOIA requests</a>, according to Wyden and Grijalva.In response to one question, Jorjani confirmed that he served as the Department’s Chief FOIA Officer but stated, “I, myself, don’t review FOIAs or make determinations.”In response to written follow-up questions from Wyden, Mr. Jorjani repeatedly stated “any review that is conducted is done so in accordance with the Department’s Awareness Review Process for Freedom of Information Act productions issued in May 24, 2018, and updated on February 28, 2019.”Jorjani also explicitly denied the existence of any “heightened” awareness review process beyond the Department’s written policy, the two lawmakers noted.Wyden and Grijalva said the Inspector General’s findings “confirm that Mr. Jorjani’s statements to Congress were not truthful.”</div></div></div></div>On September 24 of last year, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Daniel Jorjani to be the Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior with a 51-43 vote. Jorjani had been serving as the Principal Deputy Solicitor for Interior since May of 2017.“As someone who has served as Solicitor of the Interior, I know Dan Jorjani will be an exceptional Solicitor and serve the American people admirably,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt after Jorjani was confirmed.  “He will continue to distinguish himself with his integrity, his work ethic, his humility, and his sincere dedication to the Department’s mission.”However, Jordani’s so-called “integrity” didn’t stop him from illegally withholding public documents prior to Bernhardt’s Senate confirmation hearing and then “perjuring himself under oath,” as WVP pointed out.As Solicitor, Jorjani manages over 370 attorneys, encompassing divisions and offices that include ethics; energy and minerals; parks and wildlife; Indian affairs; land; water; and general law, spanning 16 regional and field offices along with the DOI’s Freedom of Information Act office. He also serves as the Regulatory Policy Officer on Interior’s Regulatory Reform Task Force and a member of the DOI’s Executive Resources Board.From 2001 to 2009, Jorjani held several positions at the DOI under President George W. Bush, including Counselor to the Deputy Secretary and Counselor and Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget.Background:<a title="" href="https://act.myngp.com/el/cIEpCyR7eU2aglpLd5eRujoCAlP8CggtCiMBwaqq2C4=/ZW99x-2RvjnRWWHximxdyjJamvyghEtdVzoBoCvveDI=" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">What is Corrupt Former Mega-Lobbyist Turned-Interior Secretary Bernhardt Trying to Hide?</a><a title="" href="https://act.myngp.com/el/cIEpCyR7eU2aglpLd5eRujoCAlP8CggtCiMBwaqq2C4=/B44MrA25Py30J4MSwM267P7Gw5ECQ9r72eKIFOs6LjI=" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Inspector General Confirms Investigation as Groups Uncover More Evidence of Political Interference at Interior</a><a title="" href="https://act.myngp.com/el/cIEpCyR7eU2aglpLd5eRujoCAlP8CggtCiMBwaqq2C4=/WvfVfU-3pYsTWDVJkCfaNKccjKdNmzyJVSxby7LJ8mQ=" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Senator Calls for Criminal Investigation Into Interior’s Nominated Solicitor for Lying About Public Records Political Meddling</a><a title="" href="https://act.myngp.com/el/cIEpCyR7eU2aglpLd5eRujoCAlP8CggtCiMBwaqq2C4=/NlrhzA5dlOUUYMTlCsEfBUBnN_RP0aU4ijjRtXCdQ=" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Interior’s Watchdog Opens Investigation into Political Interference by Trump Appointee</a>s<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: medium;">=</div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/devin-nunes-was-trumps-mole-inside-the-gang-of-eight/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/devin-nunes-was-trumps-mole-inside-the-gang-of-eight/</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">no twit</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Natasha Bertrand is one of the people who personally interviewed former Deputy FBI Director <a title="Andrew McCabe" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/mccabe-warns-trump-mueller-undeterred/583000/" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Andrew McCabe</a>. But the most consequential thing he told her didn’t make the cut of her report at the Atlantic. After <a title="tweeting" href="https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1097849599958663168" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tweeting</a> what McCabe said about the meeting in which the <a title="Gang of Eight" href="https://www.vox.com/2019/2/19/18231393/mccabe-gang-of-eight-trump-counterintelligence-investigation-today" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Gang of Eight</a> was informed about a counterintelligence investigation into whether the president was under the influence of a foreign power, she tweeted this:[] In other words, McCabe believes that Rep. Devin Nunes—who participated as chair of the House Intelligence Committee—was acting as a mole for the president in the briefings. The steps McCabe took to open an investigation after Trump fired Comey were immediately relayed to the White House by Nunes.<div class="p5_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">That is not something that comes as a surprise to any of us who have been watching all of this unfold. But it is important that McCabe shares those suspicions. If fits perfectly with Nunes’ history of disclosing classified information whenever it suits his purposes.<div class="p6_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">For example, Rep. Nunes was the subject of an ethics investigation in 2017 when he held a <a title="press conference" href="https://thinkprogress.org/nunes-trump-surveillance-obama-f170ad83e0e2/" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">press conference</a> to announce that intelligence agencies incidentally collected information about some of President Trump’s associates. <a title="In January" href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/327594-ethics-panel-announces-investigation-into-nunes" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">In January</a>, he became the subject of another ethics complaint.<div class="p7_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;">The complaint, filed by the <a title="Campaign for Accountability," href="https://campaignforaccountability.org/work/cfa-ethics-complaint-against-house-intel-chair-nunes-for-leaking-confidential-information/" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Campaign for Accountability,</a> …calls on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether Nunes or committee staff leaked closed-door testimony of the head of the company that produced the bombshell dossier of Russian information on <a title="Donald Trump" href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/donald-trump" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Donald Trump</a>.<div class="p8_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Parts of the confidential testimony apparently were “selectively leaked” to discredit Fusion GPS and to “retaliate against Fusion for its role in investigating” Trump and his campaign’s ties to Russia, according to the complaint. It alleges the leak further aimed to “deter the firm from engaging in any continued investigation.”<div class="p9_11" style="font-style: italic; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></div></blockquote>That is why, when <a title="reading reports" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-bruce-ohr-told-the-fbi-11547770923" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reading reports</a> from Trump’s <a title="media enablers" href="https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/430717-the-family-secret-bruce-ohr-told-rod-rosenstein-about-russia-case" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">media enablers</a> that are based on transcripts of closed-door testimony that hasn’t been released to the public, my initial reaction is to always assume that the leak came from Rep. Nunes.<div class="p10_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I know congressional committees have their hands full these days with investigations of Trump and his administration. But at some point they need to zero in on all the ways that Rep. Nunes has been attempting to obstruct justice.</div><div></div></div></div></div></div>