Charges that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt violated ethics rules by holding secret meetings with former oil industry pals were “disproved” by House Republican oversight leaders in a report aimed at challenging an expected critical Democratic version.
Republicans on the House committees for Oversight and Reform and Natural Resources issued a 48-page report that said Bernhardt complied with department ethics rules, did more than the former Obama-era Interior chief on ethics issues, and was also cleared by the National Archives and Records Administration.
“The allegations levied against Bernhardt and DOI are unfounded,” said the Republican report.
Oversight Democrats, which issued no response but are working on their own report, have been probing allegations that then-acting Secretary Bernhardt did not follow ethics rules in his meetings and hid meetings from public records.
In response, Interior handed over more than 27,000 pages, calendars, and meeting notes and made four top advisers available for questioning.
In the meantime, Bernhardt has revamped his ethics operation to streamline it and make it more efficient.
Despite the findings in the report, critics focused on one meeting it cited that showed he met with the Louisiana MidContinent Oil and Gas Association and several other oil and gas firms. LMOGA is affiliated with a firm Bernhardt has promised to recuse himself from meeting with due to his past as an industry lobbyist and former Interior official.
In the investigation, Democrats “pressed” witnesses on the meeting, said the report.
The Hill added that a group critical of Bernhardt believes he should have skipped the meeting.
But the report explained that department ethics officials cleared the meeting and added that rules were such that he wouldn’t discuss their issues.
“The meeting — including the list of attendees — was approved by a career agency ethics official. The applicable ethics requirements allowed Bernhardt to meet in groups with five or more interested stakeholders as long as the meeting did not discuss specific party matters. In an email sent to Bernhardt’s executive assistant Gareth Rees, DOI’s Deputy Designated Agency Ethics Official, Ed McDonnell, approved the meeting based on the understanding that there were going to be five or more interested stakeholders attending and an agreement that no party matters were to be discussed,” said the report.
What’s more, the report cited an Interior official who served also during the Obama era who told the committee that ethics rules are tighter under President Trump.
“Witnesses testified that in addition to implementing rigorous new ethics procedures, Bernhardt and his staff have worked to improve DOI’s commitment to ethics, which had atrophied during the Obama administration,” said the report.
It also added that the initial investigation was called while Bernhardt was acting secretary by Democrats who asked the National Archives and Records Administration “to inspect records management practices at DOI to determine if all of the acting secretary’s meetings are being captured and preserved in accordance with DOI’s record schedules.”
NARA found no problems, said the GOP report. “As NARA determined following an independent review, Bernhardt’s calendar records are appropriately preserved pursuant to federal records laws. NARA called the allegations ‘unfounded,’” said the report.
