Haaland discloses wedding gift
- May 24, 2022
Timothy Cama, E&E News
GREENWIRE | Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and her husband received just one wedding gift last year that required reporting, she disclosed to federal ethics officials.
A $700 pair of silver-turquoise bracelets and piece of pottery were the only gifts that exceeded the $390 federal ethics reporting threshold, Haaland said in her annual ethics report filed earlier this month and made public this week.
Haaland “requested that no gifts be given at her wedding,” she wrote in the filing. “While certain guests did bring gifts, all gifts received were below the aggregation or reporting thresholds,” except the bracelets and pottery.
Protect the Public’s Trust, an ethics watchdog group that has frequently targeted Biden administration officials, filed a pair of Freedom of Information Act requests for various records about the wedding, including any gifts the couple received, saying the wedding “presents an opportunity for those so inclined to sidestep the rules that protect the interests of the American public.”
The group sued Interior last month, saying it had not received any records responding to the request.