Daniel Jorjani
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SEE ZINKE FOIA BLOCK
SEE BERNHARDT MOFO
w. boos CU on student debt
MICHAEL BOOS WILLIAM J. OLSON*
DANIEL H. JORJANI JEREMIAH L. MORGAN
CITIZENS UNITED ROBERT J. OLSON
1006 Penn. Ave. S.E. WILLIAM J. OLSON, P.C.
Washington, DC 20003 370 Maple Ave. W., Ste. 4
(202) 547-5420 Vienna, VA 22180
(703) 356-5070
RICK BOYER **wjo**@mindspring.com
INTEGRITY LAW FIRM *Counsel of Record
P.O. Box 10953
Lynchburg, VA 24506 Attorneys for Amici Curiae
(434) 401-2093 February 3, 2023
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Daniel Jorjani, Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior
Jorjani first worked for the DOI during George W. Bush’s presidency,a tenure that included a stint counseling for Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett, who in 1997 compared environmentalism to Marxism in its restriction of individual rights.He later went to work for theCharles Koch Institute and served as a general counsel for the Koch-funded Freedom Partners,which doled out millions to conservative politicians and causes, including deregulating the fossil-fuel industry.
Since joining Trump’s DOI as solicitor, Jorjani has issued several controversial legal opinions, including one allowing mining companies to set up shop near Minnesota’s Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness, which had been protected under the Obama administration, and another shielding energy companies whose operations killed protected birds. “The way Interior has acted under the Trump administration is the textbook definition of a political cartel, using state resources to help special interests,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said. “It sure looks to me like Mr. Jorjani has been a key member of the cartel.”
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/lawmakers-demand-criminal-perjury-probe-into-top-interior-official/
https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/documents-were-illegally-withheld-during-interior-secretary-confirmation-process-watchdog/
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 details 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 exposed 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 Daniel Jorjani.”
In June 2019, WVP and Campaign for Accountability, along with three other watchdog groups, filed a complaint 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 analysis 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.
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:
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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.”
- 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.”
During his confirmation hearing, members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee asked Mr. Jorjani about his involvement in reviewing FOIA requests, 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.”
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:
What is Corrupt Former Mega-Lobbyist Turned-Interior Secretary Bernhardt Trying to Hide?
Interior’s Watchdog Opens Investigation into Political Interference by Trump Appointees
znk doi foia ESA
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https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/trumps-interior-department-wants-to-shut-down-your-access-to-information/
Zinke is out as secretary of the Interior, but in his last days in office he tried to suppress what we can learn about the destruction Trump is doing to our nation’s public lands.
Attorney Daniel Jorjani, who previously worked at the Koch-funded Freedom Partners, drafted a proposed rule that would slash the public’s ability to get public records from the 10 agencies in the Interior Department.
The Freedom of Information Act, a federal law signed by former President Lyndon Johnson in 1966, allows people to ask for previously unreleased documents. The law was passed after thousands of federal employees accused of being communists were fired during the McCarthy era, and the Eisenhower administration wouldn’t release records from the dismissals.
“I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people’s right to know is cherished and guarded,” Johnson said after he signed the law.
Notable uses of the law include environmentalists learning that the EPA knew in the 1980s that paper mills were discharging toxic dioxin into rivers.
Jorjani’s proposal would allow the Interior Department to reject requests that the Trump administration decides are “unreasonably burdensome.” Currently, agencies must fulfill records requests despite how much time and effort is required to search for records.
“The bureau will not honor a request that requires an unreasonably burdensome search or requires the bureau to locate, review, redact, or arrange for inspection of a vast quantity of material,” he wrote.
The proposal would also allow the Interior Department to impose a monthly limit for processing records.
“We’re deeply concerned about these proposed changes,” said Nada Culver, senior counsel for The Wilderness Society.
Jorjani, the principal deputy solicitor, was on the transition team in the Interior Department after Trump took office and has run the department’s legal office. The nominee for the job, Ryan Nelson, withdrew and was nominated to fill an appellate court vacancy.
Jorjani wrote that the Interior Department wants to make the changes because of increases in records requests since Trump took office. FOIA requests have increased 30% from fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2018 as environmentalists and others have sought information to oppose Zinke’s rollbacks of public lands protections.
Alex Thompson, a spokeswoman for The Wilderness Society, said publishing the proposed regulation wasn’t allowed during the government shutdown when only necessary or emergency notices are to be published.
People have until Jan. 28 to comment on the proposed changes.
Zinke also tried to get permission to destroy some records about what animals are protected under the Endangered Species Act. A recent memo at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, part of the Interior Department, directs staffers to withhold or delay releasing some public documents about how the Endangered Species Act is carried out....
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Daniel Jorjani
Special assistant to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, DOI
Formerly: worked for both the Charles Koch Institute and Charles Koch Foundation and was general counsel for Freedom Partners, an advocacy group also funded by the Koch Brothers
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